Download top and best high-quality free Hedgehog PNG Transparent Images backgrounds available in various sizes. To view the full PNG size resolution click on any of the below image thumbnail.

License Info: Creative Commons 4.0 BY-NC

Hedgehogs belong to the Erinaceinae subfamily of the Erinaceidae eulipotyphlan family. Hedgehogs are divided into five genera and may be found in areas of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand, where they were introduced. Hedgehogs aren’t native to Australia, and there aren’t any surviving species endemic to the Americas. The extinct genus Amphechinus, on the other hand, was once found in North America.

Hedgehogs and shrews (family Soricidae) share a distant ancestor, with gymnures perhaps serving as an intermediary link, and they haven’t altered much in the previous fifteen million years. They, like many other early mammals, have evolved to a nocturnal lifestyle. Their spiky defence is similar to that of rodents like porcupines and monotremes like echidnas.

The spines of hedgehogs, which are hollow hairs stiffened with keratin, are clearly identifiable. Their spines aren’t venomous or barbed, and they don’t simply separate from their bodies like porcupine quills do. The spines of young animals, on the other hand, usually fall out when adult spines take their place. This is known as “quilling.” When an animal is sick or under a lot of stress, its spines might fall out. Hedgehogs are typically brown in colour with light spine tips, however blonde hedgehogs can be seen on the British island of Alderney.

All hedgehog species can curl up into a tight ball in self-defense, forcing all of its spines to point outwards. Two big muscles on the hedgehog’s back regulate the position of the quills. The creature’s back quills protect the tucked face, feet, and belly, which aren’t quilled, while it’s rolled into a ball. Because the number of spines determines the effectiveness of this strategy, desert hedgehogs that evolved to carry less weight are more likely to flee or attack, ramming an intruder with their spines; rolling into a spiny ball is a last resort for those species. While forest hedgehogs are prey to birds (especially owls) and ferrets, smaller species such as the long-eared hedgehog prey on foxes, wolves, and mongooses.

Hedgehogs are mostly nocturnal, however certain species can be seen during the day. Hedgehogs sleep for a large portion of the day under bushes, grasses, rocks, or most commonly in dens dug in the ground, with different sleeping habits depending on the species. All natural hedgehogs can hibernate, however not all do, depending on temperature, species, and quantity of food.

Hedgehogs are fairly loud and communicate by a combination of grunts, snuffles and/or squeals, depending on species.

Hedgehogs occasionally undertake a ceremony called anointing. When the animal discovers a new fragrance, it will lick and bite the source, then make a scented froth in its mouth and paste it on its spines with its tongue. The aim of this behaviour is uncertain, although some experts suggest anointing camouflages the hedgehog with the fresh fragrance of the region and gives a probable toxin or source of infection to predators pricked by its spines. Anointing is often sometimes termed anting because of a similar activity in birds.

Like opossums, mice, and moles, hedgehogs have some natural immunity against certain snake venom through the protein erinacin in the animal’s muscular system, however it is accessible only in limited levels and a viper bite may still be deadly. In addition, hedgehogs are one of four known mammalian groups with mutations protecting against another snake venom, α-neurotoxin. Pigs, honey badgers, mongooses, and hedgehogs contain mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that prevent the snake venom α-neurotoxin from binding, albeit those mutations arose individually and independently.

Download Hedgehog PNG images transparent gallery.