Hedgehog Day

Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals. There are 17 different species that live across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. They were also introduced to New Zealand, USA and South America from England. Hedgehogs need our protection. The main threat to hedgehogs is a loss of habitat and food. In Europe, hedgehogs are losing a lot of their habitats to humans, and homeowners are killing off their main food supply. The UK has seen the hedgehog population halve since 2000. They often are killed on the roads.

There are 17 different species that live across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

There did exist a belief among Roman Catholics in Britain that the hedgehog predicted the length of winter, or so it has been claimed, but without demonstration of its age, in a publication by the Scotland-born American journalist Thomas C. MacMillan in 1886, and American writer/journalist Samuel Adams Drake's book published in 1900. But the theme of Hedgehog Day is protection of the animals, not weather prediction, like that of Groundhog Day.

On November 10, we celebrate the International Hedgehog Day, a feast of spiny, insectivorous mammals. They are already asleep in winter sleep, curled up in a tight ball in their nest of leaves and grass, hidden among the branches.

Hedgehogs really are amazing animals! Let's protect them!

Source: angels2animals.com | wikipedia.org | animalsasia.org