Hedgehog bully.

[Suzirose]

I’m sat watching 4 hedgehogs in my garden at the moment. I’ve been watching them for about a month now so I can identify them all. I enjoy observing their characters because they are all different. One who is not as big as the others is such a bully. They have two plates of food so there’s plenty to go round but bully hog plays ‘shuffleboard’ and pushes the others around the decking! My favourite one looks old, and she has a scab on her nose and she always gets ‘shuffleboarded’. I call her Margaret. I worry about her but she always manages to eat well.

[Nic]

Hi Suzirose

Really pleased that you are enjoying having the hogs around so much. I’m afraid many of the males are intolerant of having other males around. They are naturally solitary animals, so when we attract them together with food, they do often have altercations. Sometimes it can look quite ferocious, but they seem to be none the worse for wear afterwards. I don’t think it is necessarily always to do with food, just that a more dominant male may not like having another male is ‘his’ space.

Sorry to say, but I suspect your Margaret may be a male. It’s unlikely that a male would be aggressive towards ‘her’ otherwise. Females continue being capable of breeding for their whole lives, so I would have thought he would be more likely to try to ‘court’ her. (I have found, over the years that there is often a ‘gentle giant’ male who gets rolled up by hogs much smaller than him). Of course there is an exception to every rule, but it seems unlikely. Hopefully Margaret will remain your favourite whether male or female!

I hope you continue to enjoy watching the hogs. Let us know if you see anything else interesting. Sounds as if you well under their spell already!

[Author]

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