If you recall Soviet cartoons about animals, then immediately the image of a hedgehog pops up in your head, which puts berries, fruits and vegetables on needles to make supplies. And then the question may immediately arise: having planted food on needles, how does a hedgehog remove it if it has very short paws? The answer can be very surprising.

Features of hedgehog needles

The upper part of the body of the hedgehogs is dotted with needles, which serve as a protective function. Some mistakenly believe that they replaced the animal's hair, but this is not so. Hedgehogs also have hair: thin hairs grow between the needles, they are simply much smaller than the last ones, which is why they are not so noticeable.

Interesting fact: Hedgehog needles grow at the same rate as regular hair, inside they are hollow and filled with air.

When the hedgehog is in a relaxed state, the needles are soft, but if danger appears nearby, the animal strains and its spikes become hard. In length, they grow from 2 to 3 centimeters. This length is enough to prick the attacker, but to avoid a serious bite. If you look at the back of an animal from a short distance, you will notice that the needles do not look in one direction, but randomly grow in different directions. This feature eliminates the need for the hedgehog to turn to the offender with a certain side where the needles are looking: no matter which side the offender rushes to, he is guaranteed to run into hundreds of spikes.

In young hedgehogs, the number of needles reaches three thousand. With age, their number increases to 5-6 thousand.

What do hedgehogs eat?

For some, this will be a revelation, but hedgehogs can be considered predatory animals. Their main diet consists of insects, which they find in the forest more often. Having picked up a bug, the animal immediately eats it, without leaving in reserve. Adult hedgehogs, the size of which reaches up to 30 cm, also feed on frogs and mice.

Interesting fact: hedgehogs are quite aggressive creatures. They can even attack snakes caught in their territory. Again, in the fight against them, needles help them, which do not allow the enemy to get his fangs to the skin.

Also, animals show an increased interest in strongly smelling objects. The hedgehog begins to salivate it so that it is saturated with this smell. After that, the liquid is collected in paws and the needles are rubbed with it. Scientists have not yet determined the exact cause of this behavior. It is believed that this is how they fight parasites that settle between the needles.

Before winter, the hedgehog actively eats up to build fat. With the onset of cold weather, he hibernates and eats only the resources of his body.

How do hedgehogs remove chopped apples, mushrooms and berries?

It was described above what hedgehogs eat. It is easy to see that nothing was said about apples, mushrooms and berries. The fact is that hedgehogs are indifferent to them. Only “carnivorous dishes” are present in the diet.

Accordingly, they are not interested in vegetables and fruits, and if they ate them, they would do it immediately, as was the case with the rest of the food, and would not put them on needles. In general, a hedgehog carrying an apple on needles is an invention of advertisers and animators.

Interesting fact: during the filming of an advertisement so that the hedgehog comes up to the apple, supposedly showing interest in it, most often rub the fruit with meat.

However, a hedgehog may have a situation where a berry or small mushroom is planted on the needles, for example, when it rolls down a sloping surface. Then the animal removes a foreign object in a fairly simple way: just rubbing yourself against something.