Saturday, August 15, 2009

Hedgehogs!

FURRY FRIDAY ON SATURDAY

These are British garden favourites.



Occasionally known as hedge pigs, they are much loved:



They can get quite big. Worldwide there are 16 species of hedgehog, living in Europe, North Africa, parts of Asia and New Zealand. Hedgehogs are not native to the Americas.



They'll sneak in at night and eat your slugs and left over catfood. Lots of people feed them deliberately:



When a hedgehog feels threatened, it tends to curl into a prickly ball. This dark-faced type, incidentally, is the kind most commonly seen in our gardens:



Baby hedgehogs are very tiny (at first (of course))



and very cute (once they get their spikes:



This little baby's from New Zealand. How cute is he/she with those ears?







VIDEO ~ This type of hedgehog is called the African Pygmy. They're often kept as pets in North America:
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11 comments:

  1. Akelamalu15 August 2009 at 17:29

    Hedgehogs are cute but full of fleas! :(

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  2. Lesley15 August 2009 at 21:47

    Ahhhhhh Gled, you post the cutest pictures! :D Years ago we used to have two Yorkshire Terriers and the little male one, Dandy, once cocked his leg and pittled on a hedgehog! Don't worry, it was all curled up and none the worse for it's unexpected shower. :)

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  3. Welshcakes Limoncello15 August 2009 at 23:25

    I never saw a baby-baby one before! So beautiful.

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  4. Sweden16 August 2009 at 05:05

    OMG so cute gleds!!!!! we had hedgehogs in sweden when i lived on the farm they would come and drink milk we left out for them... i LOVE furry fridays (except when u post sad pics like abused donkey and seal getting hacked to bits) lol

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  5. DUTA16 August 2009 at 17:38

    You did a good job. They look cute.

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  6. Baino16 August 2009 at 21:19

    Reminds me of Beatrix Potter's Mrs Tiggywinkle! Much cuter than our spiny echidna!

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  7. Janice Seagraves17 August 2009 at 05:16

    I like the picture of the three little babies.

    Too cute!

    Janice~

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  8. Gledwood17 August 2009 at 12:35

    AKELAMALU: do you know I was going to mention that, but thought it might be disingenuous to hedgehogs!

    WELSHCAKES: oh aye. And those whitefaced ones are all pets, so far as I can discern...

    LESLEY: we once let off a rocket, deliberately embedded in the ground. As it flared and fizzed we saw the shadow of a poor hedgehog right next to it. Poor little trotter must have got the shock of its little life ..!

    SWEDEN: I try to keep them upbeat but some issues have to be raised, know what I mean ..?

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  9. Gledwood17 August 2009 at 12:37

    DUTA: thank you. But I have to get the New Zealand one back again. That one was extra-cute

    BAINO: oo aye. Never heard of a spiny echidna before though ...

    JANICE: thank you ;->....

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  10. Syd17 August 2009 at 20:03

    Those babies are the cutest. Thanks for sharing these pictures.

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  11. Gledwood18 August 2009 at 13:30

    oh aye!!

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