Aestivation

Where African pygmy hedgehogs do not hibernate during the coldest months in their habitat, African pygmy hedgehogs do summer sleep during the hottest months in their habitat. Especially in countries where temperatures can rise to over 40 degrees Celsius in the summer months, they keep long summer sleeps in their shady, cool burrows. These summer sleeps are very similar to hibernation: the body causes the heart rate to drop, the hedgehog becomes slower, eats less, sleeps more, organs are kept active at a low level and the body temperature adjusts to the ambient temperature, until the hedgehog eventually falls into a deep sleep, until the temperature cools down enough for the hedgehog to become active again.

In other areas where it gets up to 30 degrees Celsius in the summer months, African pygmy hedgehogs may go on a summer rest instead of a summer hibernation, resting in their burrows for only a few days to shelter from the heat.