Why help hedgehogs this World Hedgehog Day?
2nd February 2019
1. Hedgehogs are cute.
SUPER cute.
2. Hedgehogs are in big trouble…
We’ve lost a third of all our hedgehogs in the last ten years.
→ How do we know hedgehogs are declining?
3. They play a vital part in our ecosystem.
4. Hedgehogs are deeply rooted in our culture.
This hedgehog is from an Egyptian tomb and is 3,800 years old!
Hedgehog, ca. 1938-1700 B.C.E. Faience, 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.2.1. Creative Commons-BY
…there’s always Mrs Tiggywinkle too, obviously.
5. Hedgehogs can thrive in towns and cities.
6. And alongside our pets…
7. Hedgehogs outlived the sabre-toothed tiger.
ROAR!
(The ancestors of the modern hedgehog evolved around 20 million years ago, when wooly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers bounced around.)
8. Hedgehogs are excellent mothers.
9. A baby hedgehog is called a hoglet.
10. Hedgehog footprints look like little handprints.
11. You can make a little house for hedgehogs in your garden.
12. But most of all, people love hedgehogs.
Oscar’s mad for them.
And Brooke’s on board.
They were recently voted our most popular wild animal (not for the first time)
