10 Surprising Hedgehog Facts

Hedgehogs are small, spiky, and quiet, right up until you learn what they do with their own spit.

1. They "self-anoint" with their own frothy spit. When a hedgehog encounters a new or interesting smell, it often licks and chews the source until it works up a thick foam, then twists around and spreads that foam across its own spines.

2. Nobody's fully sure why they do it. The leading theories include masking their own scent from predators, coating their spines with something distasteful or mildly toxic, and even a form of self-comfort when settling into something new. It isn't limited to scary or toxic things either: hedgehogs anoint after meeting a new food, new bedding or a new toy, which suggests it may be more about processing novelty than a strict defense response.

3. They're covered in 5,000 to 7,000 spines, and none of them are barbed like a porcupine's. Hedgehog spines are modified hairs, smooth and solid, meant to deter rather than embed in an attacker.

4. Rolling into a ball is a full-body defense system. A specialized muscle running around their body lets a hedgehog pull its spiny skin down over its face, legs, and belly, turning it into a nearly complete armored sphere.

5. They're mostly solitary and see poorly. Hedgehogs rely far more on smell and hearing than eyesight, part of why sudden movement, not sight, is usually what startles them.

6. Wild hedgehogs hibernate, but the African pygmy hedgehog kept as a pet doesn't, and forcing one into a cold-induced dormant state is dangerous, not natural hibernation, and needs immediate vet attention.

7. They cover real ground at night. The African pygmy hedgehog, the species kept as a pet, is nocturnal and constantly on the move in the wild, covering up to several miles in a single night. Its native range is a wide belt of Africa from Senegal across to Sudan and south to Zambia. That drive to travel is why pet hedgehogs run so far on a wheel overnight.

8. Baby hedgehogs are born with spines already. At birth the spines sit under a covering membrane, which spares the mother. Within a few hours the membrane dries up and the spines start growing. An average litter is about six.

9. They're lactose intolerant. A saucer of milk left out for a hedgehog is classic folklore, but dairy causes real digestive problems, not a treat, and our piece on why hedgehogs can't handle dairy explains how bad it can get.

10. They shrug off venom that would stop most small predators. African pygmy hedgehogs are opportunistic feeders with an extremely high tolerance for toxins, and they have been recorded eating scorpions and small venomous snakes with no ill effects. The scorpion most keepers know, the emperor scorpion, is West African too, and its venom is mild even by scorpion standards.

Which fact surprised you the most? Let me know in the comments.

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