Baby animals

Woodyblade mentioned in another thread that they have Hedgehogs in his part of the world ... and I'm envious .

There are so cute - wonder if they are soft to the touch or prickly like the porcupines we have here?

 

Hi Mara, yes indeed the hedgehog can be a little prickly, but unlike the porcupine does not use his spikes as an offensive weapon and are there merely as defence.
In the photo you see one in the defensive rolled up position, or at least nearly so. The spines are sharp and to see any other animal such as a cat or dog sniff, then get his nose pricked is at times funny, cats will back off, then try to bat the hedgehog with a paw, only to find that gets pricked as well. He tends to leave Mr hedgehog alone after that. A dog will back off, maybe do the same as the cat or more often bark at the hedgehog.
To handle a hedgehog is a lot safer than trying to pick up a porcupine as the spines will flatten, and all run in the same direction in a similar fashion to long fur.
I have picked one little feller up from the middle of the road and moved him to a nearby garden one time, I have also seen one running along the safety of the inner pavement and a wall. A long time ago as a child we kept one for a short time in the rear yard and treated it like a pet.
However, the hedgehog does have one small problem, which if allowed to get into the house could leave you scratching, they harbour thousands of fleas within the confines of the spines and fine fur that is below the spines.
In fact it was once proven that a hedgehog that had been de-flea'd suffered a form of withdrawal symptoms as he or she was no longer being constantly bitten by the little parasites.
However as fleas are quite often specific to one creature and in this case extremely so, it is very unlikely for a human to be bitten by the hedgehog flea.
Badger fleas though are a different matter, and warrant a complete thread of their own.

For more info on the hedgehog (European) have a look here-
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog[/ame]

 

Thanks for all the great information about these fascinating little creations, Nev - how I'd love to be able to see a Hedgehog just once and stroke it's little nose!

Wow, who knew about them having such a relationship with their fleas - and off I go in a moment to read the info at the link you were so nice to supply.

Our Porcupines here aren't nearly as cute - and while I like the idea of having the 'spikes' to keep enemies at bay, our poor dogs would often come home covered their muzzles covered in porcupine quills - which not only fester but were excruciatingly painful to the animal while we removed them (they are 'barbed', similar to fish hooks).

Please do feel free to add any animals to this thread - I'd love to hear about Badgers (and their fleas - eek!) - and any other animal that is common in our individual areas of the world!

 

This picture roughly shows their full size



A few other things to mention, might be mentioned on the Wiki link but will say it anyway, they are nocturnal I think, we don't usually see them a lot they are normally walking around in the grass but they do often come out onto roads and as Nev mentioned he has got one off the road before, I've seen a few squashed on the road before as well because they are slow moving and cars came quicker than they could get over the road.

I think I mentioned badgers and a few other critters from around here to you before Mara, can't remember, but badgers can be nasty little things I think they have various diseases like rabies for example, I think they try to bite people but again mainly in defence I think they are mostly shy animals like the hedgehog. And actually a bit like some dogs which are born blind, badgers are as well as far as I know their eyes start to open after about 3-4 weeks, I think.

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A couple others you'll probably like as well Mara, you know of the Red Squirrel that we have been mentioning a few others native around here would be otters and puffins, I'm sure otters are over in the US and Canada? but as for Puffins I'm not sure at all here are a couple of pics you'll be able to type in the animal name into Wikipedia for information on them as well.

Otter


Puffin

 

Thanks so much for adding the photos and info!

Nope, no Puffins here, unfortunately - but we do have Otters (aren't they absolutely adorable!!). That Badger doesn't look the least bit friendly - but what a shame Rabies exists in your Country as well.

Here, Skunks and Porcupines and Possums are the most likely candidates to get squashed by cars on the roadways here - and occasionally deer and elk - only in the latter case, they mostly squash the cars that hit them.