earth hedgehog

earth hedgehog

The land-hedgehog (Erinaceus European) is a primitive insectivore mammal of Erinaceidae family, which includes 16 species of hedgehogs. The hedgehog is only present in Europe (native), being introduced in New Zealand. In Portugal is an easy species to find in nature.

Description

Hedgehogs are easily recognizable by their spines, lining the entire body except the face and belly. The hedgehog is about six thousand sharp spikes and about 2 to 3 centimeters, which cover the back and sides of his body. The spines are modified hairs whose mobility is controlled by muscles. The thorns are bristly, brown in color, with more or less dark shades, but the belly is whitish hair.

When it feels threatened, the hedgehog curls up on itself, hiding the unprotected parts of your body such as the belly, the limbs and the head, becoming a "ball with spikes," rather difficult to penetrate. The head easily distinguishes it from the rest of the body, the eyes are large, the ears are relatively small and have a rudimentary tail.

There is no sexual dimorphism, ie, there are no obvious characteristics that differentiate males and females. However, the main difference is that the males have intraabdominal testicles and penis well developed, while the female has a vagina near the anus and have five pairs of nipples: a pair pectoral area, two pairs in the abdominal area and two pairs in the inguinal area.

The body length varies between 20 and 35 centimeters and the tail between 10 and 20 centimeters. The adult animals weighing on average 700 g, this value can vary between 400 and 1200 grams. An animal that does not have at least between 500 and 600 grams will have difficulty surviving dormant. Genetically beings are diploid (2n) with 48 chromosomes.

Reproduction

By having the body covered with thorns, it is hard to think how hedgehogs breed. But the thorns are maneuverable and in the breeding season when the male does a "dance" around the female, this low thorns so that the thorns remain lying on your body, allowing mating.

In Portugal, hedgehogs can mate between January / February and August / September, and most of the times, mate only once a year. The female builds a nest with feathers and straw which will create alone, her brood.

The gestation period lasts 35 days, rising 2 to 6 pups. The cubs are born blind, white and relative weight 10-25 g. The pups are not born with sharp spikes and your body is wrapped in a thick gelatinous. Thus, at birth, the cubs do not hurt the mother. But inside of the spines have a liquid hours after birth, leading to wither they rapidly become spiky and strong. The eye opening occurs after two weeks and the young begin to leave the nest in the third week. The feeding takes about one month. After this period, it creates feeds without any help from parents.

Until the first year of life, mortality is very high (up to 70%). After this year, hedgehogs can live up to five years. Sexual maturity is reached in the first year of life. The offspring from birth, curl up on themselves, as they are left alone in the nest by the mother who needs to feed. Although the young are more vulnerable because their spines are less hard, predators are not the main threat Hedgehogs.