News

Hedgehog species

How many hedgehog species do you know? A lot of people know two, maybe more if they are members of
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Start of a new season!

We are officially announcing the start of a new season for The Hedgehog Program and with that, a lot of
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Research suggests social mammals live longer

In the research called ‘Correlated evolution of social organization and lifespan in mammals‘, researchers suggest that mammals that are naturally
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Tenrec species

When you think of tenrecs, you most likely can only think of 5 species. But those five are only the
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16 year old hedgehog found in Denmark

‘Thorvald’ is the name of the oldest found hedgehog in the world. Researchers of the Danish Hedgehog Project researched over
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No one knows for sure why hedgehogs anoint…

But studying other animals might give us a clue Self-anointing is a hedgehog behaviour that has captivated the imagination of
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Madagascar’s mammalian evolution under threat

International scientists have concluded that it would take three million years to recover the number of species that went extinct
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The decline of the South African hedgehog

Living in South Africa and being active in the hedgehog community, I have the privilege to get personal experience of
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Are hedgehogs immune to snake venom?

This is a question that was asked many times before and will be asked again in the future. If you
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Hedgehog spines could protect athletes from concussions

Taking inspiration from nature to achieve innovative solutions to human problems -a practice also known as biomimicry- has all manner
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Two new species of ‘hairy hedgehogs’ discovered in the Philippines

Photo: Podogymnura intermedia (FMNH 186805, holotype), adult male. Photographed 28 July 2005 by D. S. Balete. The first two months
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Function of the Jacobson’s organ in hedgehogs

If you have read into the eyesight of hedgehogs (which will be another educative article at a later time) you
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Prickly situation on the runway: Air New Zealand flight delayed

The captain of flight NZ675 which just landed from Auckland, New Zealand, had spotted a hedgehog on the runway of
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Promote your (breeding)business, rescue or non-profit!

At The Hedgehog Program we are very keen on supporting other businesses: breeders, rescues and non-profits in their goals to
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Biology 101: What is convergent evolution?

And how is convergent evolution relevant to hedgehogs and tenrecs? These are two regularly asked questions whenever i explain that
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Large-eared tenrec added to the Wiki

A new species page has been added to our wiki! Within the Tenrecidae family, the subfamily of the Geogalinae and
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European hedgehogs are wreaking havoc in New Zealand

If you find yourself in New Zealand, you might see a hedgehog snuffling around… But it won’t be a native
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Quills, hairs and.. quiars?

Tenrecs, much like other mammals, have a skin covered in hairs and sometimes quills. But did you know there’s another
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The sound of quills!

Weird, wonderfull and true! The Lowland-Streaked Tenrec (Hemicentetes semispinosus) is the only mammal with sounding quills. They are one of
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Biology 101: Anthropomorphism

If you’ve worked with animals for a while, you probably have heard of the term and might know the meaning
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Do animals have conciousness?

For years, scientists and animal rights enthusiasts alike have been fascinated by the potential capacity of animals to process the
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Field research 2023 in the making

Upon visiting our website and looking through the projects, a new one that’s popped up a few months ago is
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A hedgehog’s masturbation

Photo: © Lizl van Vreden Masturbating hedgehogs? Now that might be a sticky spikey situation one would think. But it
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Hedgehogs beat cats in garden standoffs

Nottingham Trent University has recently collaborated with the University of Brighton to study animal interactions at feeding stations in UK
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brown and black hedgehog

Hedgehog, viper and rabbit are the victims of decreasing quality of nature

Despite efforts to increase the quality of nature in The Netherlands, the WNF (World Nature Foundation, the Dutch branch of
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What is your hedgehog’s poop telling you?

It may not be the highlight of your day, but inspecting your hedgehog’s poo in the morning can give you
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white hedgehog in grass

Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome as the waste-bin diagnosis

Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome might just be the most wellknown diagnosis in hedgehog species, especially in species that are in captivity.
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Pop-off Syndrome

This is very rare condition, but seems to be occurring under the wild species of hedgehogs, especially with the European
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Biology 101: Coprophagia and geophagia

When you work with animals, you know that a varying diet can be hard to maintain. A lot of animals
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New course available!

Over the past few weeks we have been working hard on a free course with unlimited lifetime access! The course
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