The European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is a nocturnal, spiny mammal native to western and northern Europe. It forages through grassland, hedgerows, woodland edges, farmland and gardens, eating mainly ground-dwelling invertebrates. When threatened, a powerful sheet of muscle draws the body into a tight ball and points thousands of spines outward.
Also called the western European hedgehog or common hedgehog, this is one particular species rather than a name for every hedgehog. The northern white-breasted hedgehog overlaps it in parts of Europe, while African pygmy hedgehogs sold as pets belong to different species. In 2024, the IUCN global assessment moved the western European hedgehog from Least Concern to Near Threatened.
Species and identification
Erinaceus europaeus belongs to the family Erinaceidae and the order Eulipotyphla, which also contains shrews and moles. It is most readily recognized by a brown face and breast, a pointed snout, small rounded ears and a dense coat of banded spines across the back and sides.
In parts of central and eastern Europe, identification can be complicated by the northern white-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus). That species often has a pale breast patch, but coat color varies and the ranges meet. Location and expert examination may be needed for a dependable identification.
Spines, body size and defenses
Adults are commonly about 22โ28 centimeters (8.7โ11 inches) long and may weigh roughly 450โ1,500 grams (1โ3.3 pounds), depending on age, sex, season and health. They have short legs, five toes on each foot and a small tail hidden beneath the spines and body fur.
The spines are modified hairs made from keratin. An adult carries approximately 5,000โ7,000, each about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) long. They are not barbed and are not shot from the body. Muscles at the base raise them, while a broad muscle beneath the skin acts like a drawstring around the animal.
When danger approaches, the hedgehog lowers its head and curls until the soft face, legs and belly are enclosed. This defense deters many predators, although European badgers can open a curled hedgehog and are important natural predators where both species occur.
Range and habitat
The species occurs across much of western and northern Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula and Italy north to Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia, and east into parts of central Europe and European Russia. People introduced it to New Zealand, where hedgehogs are non-native predators and conservation management has a very different goal.
European hedgehogs prefer varied landscapes that combine feeding areas with dense cover. Hedgerows, scrub, field margins, deciduous woodland edges, parks, cemeteries and gardens can all provide food and nest sites. Large intensively managed fields, sealed fences, busy roads and extensive conifer plantations can divide usable habitat.
Urban and suburban gardens are valuable when animals can move between them. A single garden is rarely large enough for all nightly needs, so gaps at ground level, connected hedges and vegetation corridors help maintain access to feeding and nesting areas.
Diet and nightly foraging
European hedgehogs are opportunistic omnivores with a diet dominated by invertebrates. Beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, earwigs, millipedes, fly larvae and other soil or surface animals are frequent foods. Slugs are eaten, but they do not form the whole diet. Hedgehogs may also take carrion, eggs or small vertebrates when available.
A keen sense of smell and good hearing guide a foraging animal through vegetation after dark. Individuals commonly cover one or more kilometers in a night, and males may travel farther during the breeding season. They are generally solitary and do not defend sharply bounded feeding territories.
Milk should never be offered because it can cause digestive illness. Where supplementary feeding is appropriate, wildlife organizations recommend fresh water and suitable meat-based cat or dog food. Such food supplements natural foraging; it does not replace connected habitat rich in invertebrates.
Nocturnal behavior and self-anointing
Most activity takes place between dusk and dawn. During the day a hedgehog rests in a temporary nest beneath vegetation, logs, sheds or other cover. It may change nests frequently during the active season. Snuffling, grunting and loud eating sounds often reveal an animal before it is seen.
When a hedgehog encounters a strong or unfamiliar smell, it may lick or chew the material, produce frothy saliva and spread that saliva over its spines. This behavior is called self-anointing. Its precise function remains uncertain, so claims that it definitely provides camouflage, poison or parasite control go beyond the evidence.
Hibernation and winter nests
In colder parts of the range, declining temperatures and scarce invertebrate food trigger hibernation. Timing varies with latitude, weather, sex and body condition. In Britain it often falls between late autumn and early spring, but hibernation is not one uninterrupted sleep.
A winter nest, or hibernaculum, is a dense structure of dry leaves, grass and other vegetation built under a hedge, roots, brush, a shed or similar shelter. During torpor, body temperature, heart rate and breathing fall dramatically to conserve energy. Hedgehogs periodically wake, and some move to another nest.
Stored body fat must support the animal through winter. Disturbing a hibernation nest wastes energy, while unseasonably warm periods may cause extra arousals when little natural food is available.
Mating, hoglets and lifespan
Breeding occurs mainly during spring and summer. Courtship can be noisy: a male circles a female while she snorts, turns and pushes him away. Hedgehogs are promiscuous, and males do not help build the nursery nest or rear the young.
After a pregnancy of about four to five weeks, a female commonly gives birth to four or five hoglets, though litter size varies. Newborns are blind and their first pale spines lie beneath swollen skin, emerging soon after birth. The mother nurses them in a nursery nest. Young begin accompanying her on short foraging trips at about three to four weeks and become independent several weeks later.
Late litters face a difficult race to gain enough energy reserves before winter. Mortality is high in the first year. Animals that survive early life and their first hibernation may live several more years, though road traffic, predation, disease and accidents keep average wild survival well below maximum recorded ages.
Conservation status and threats
The IUCN Red List changed the global status of Erinaceus europaeus from Least Concern to Near Threatened in version 2024-2. This global category should not be confused with national assessments: for example, the species has a more threatened classification in Great Britain.
Important pressures include road deaths, habitat fragmentation, loss of hedges and field margins, intensive land management, declining invertebrate prey, garden hazards and predation. Pesticides may reduce food and can expose hedgehogs to harmful chemicals. Badgers are natural predators, but their effect interacts with habitat quality and cover.
Practical help includes keeping ground-level routes between gardens, retaining native cover and leaf piles, checking long grass before mowing, covering drains and holes, providing escape ramps from ponds, and inspecting bonfires before lighting. Injured animals or hedgehogs active in daylight and behaving abnormally need advice from a qualified wildlife rehabilitator.