Have you ever seen a live hedgehog? These little animals are very funny: funny grunting and stomping loudly in the evening twilight, they sometimes cause a real dumbfold to the owner of a homestead farm. In rural areas, they regularly feed from dog bowls, and by the fall they suddenly disappear.
As you might guess, the animal goes into hibernation. So how does the hedgehog winter and where does it go for this? This article is dedicated to this fascinating topic.
Normal gardeners know how many pests a hedgehog eats during the season, and therefore they specially create animals all the conditions by setting feeders. These wonderful creatures eagerly devour even slugs that few can handle.
They need a lot of calories: since the hedgehog hibernates throughout the cold period, he needs to gain as much fat as possible. Cold is not the main reason for hibernation. What is more important is the fact that in winter there is nothing to eat, and hedgehogs for normal life should consume just an incredible amount of feed per day. An excellent confirmation of this is the behavior of domesticated animals of this species, which do not even think of falling asleep.
Where hedgehogs winter, there is always a cold winter. They spend it in a hole. It should be noted that before the animal lies in the winter "apartment", the figure of the hedgehog must acquire an elegant pear shape: it is immediately clear that he has fed enough fat.
As a rule, he builds a hole for himself. Many young hedgehogs die, choosing the wrong wintering place. Having pulled out a mink, the animal drags dry foliage there, and its layer often reaches half a meter.
Since hedgehogs winter, even in areas with a very harsh climate, it is important for them to create conditions under which the temperature will not drop below zero.
It is no coincidence that we paid so much attention to the amount of fat: if everything is fine with them, then the hedgehog can fall asleep already in mid-November, while its less well-fed relatives have to look for food until the last. The males fall asleep first.
As soon as the first serious cold sets in, hedgehogs rush to their nest. Once there, they plug the passage with the same leaves. Since the hedgehog winters sensitively in the early days, a loud noise can easily wake it up. In this case, finding out the location of its nest is very simple, since stomping and loud grunts are hard to hear. Often, because of this feature, animals die, since foxes and feral dogs are not averse to bite with a hedgehog.
But after the final decrease in temperature, the animal falls into a kind of suspended animation, and it is already impossible to wake him. The temperature of his body drops to 1.8 ° C. Note that in this state the hedgehog can be up to 240 days. If there are severe thaws, the animal can occasionally wake up, go outside, and in case of chance will not miss the opportunity to eat.
With the first rays of the spring sun, hedgehogs awaken. Since they need a lot of energy, and there is not enough food at this time, they can often stay awake around the clock, constantly looking for food. Soon after, they begin to look for a partner for reproduction.
So you found out how the hedgehog winters! We hope you were interested.