The Hedgehog is one of our most popular mammals that can be found throughout England in gardens, parks, woodlands and fields.    It can easily be recognised because it has thousands of spines on the top of its body.  The spines help to protect the Hedgehog, especially when it rolls itself up into a ball. 

The Hedgehog has a long, brown, pointed face and a black nose.  It also has small brown ears and two small black eyes.  It spends most of the day sleeping under hedgerows in nests made out of grass and leaves.  Sometimes on very hot and sunny days it just sleeps under a pile of leaves.   At night it likes to go looking for food.  It loves eating beetles, but it will also eat slugs, earwigs and birds’ eggs.   In winter Hedgehogs hibernate in nests made of grass, leaves and moss.

A Hedgehog can carry a lot of fleas, but these fleas don’t live on cats and dogs and neither do they live on humans.  To help hold off fleas, the hedgehog spits saliva on its body and then turns it into a foam.  The foam is spread all over its body.  The hedgehog really seems to enjoy doing this.  Perhaps the foam also acts as a sort of soothing body lotion.