Idiots are living our planet
As offensive as the title of this post may sound let me introduce to you a member of the Erinaceidae family called the Hedgehog commonly known as the Idiot in my native country Nigeria hence the name Idiot used in the title of the post I will tell you about its fire powers as we continue.
A young short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) (Credit: Fritz Geiser)
Sit back, get relaxed and let the story begin.
According to Wikipedia,
A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Hedgehogs' spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme.
Physical description:
Though one may mistake the hedgehog for a porcupine(a big cousin of the hedgehog who shoots his spines in defense) or a Echidna (one of the hedgehog relatives who doesn't fear wild fire. I should be talking about it by next week) you can quickly distinguish a hedgehog by its hollow hairs which are made stiff by keratin, these hairs are called spines. The spines of a hedgehog my be mistaken for the quills of a porcupine but unlike the quills of a porcupine its not poisonous or barbed and it is not easily detached from the hedgehog body meaning the "Idiot" doesn't shoot as compared to the porcupine and even if it does, the bullets don't kill they are not even poisonous though they may hurt anyway. The hedgehog only looses its spines when the animal is diseased or under extreme stress and then through a process called quilling which refers to immature hedgehog's spines falling out to be replaced with adult spines. (just like we change milk teeth it seems they change milk spines too) lol
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Reproduction.
All Hedgehogs are born blind with a protective membrane covering their quills, which dries and shrinks over the next several hours. Their gestation period is 35–58 days depending on the species with an average litter of 5–6 for smaller species and 3–4 newborns for larger species. Larger species of hedgehogs live 4–7 years and smaller species live 2–4 years (4–7 in captivity). Lack of predators and controlled diet contribute to a longer lifespan in captivity (8–10 years depending on size). So if you want to save some Hedgehogs please bring them home and house them.
Photo Credit: Tim Melling/Getty Images
Now lets talk about Hedgehogs leaving us.
In the RSPB’s annual garden watch survey, hedgehogs were spotted in fewer gardens for the third consecutive year. One quarter of the 139,000 gardens surveyed did not record a single sighting in the whole of 2016.
The survey, carried out by citizen scientists, echoes what the experts are saying. Nobody knows exactly how many hedgehogs live in Britain but the campaign Hedgehog Street says the number has fallen by 30% to under a million in the past 15 years. In the 1950s, the number was estimated at 36.5m, though the campaign, run by the Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, accepts this figure may be on the high side.
Dr Bunnell, who runs a hedgehog sanctuary near York, cited a number of reasons for the decline in the population.
- “Pesticides have eliminated much of their food such as caterpillars and beetles. Then there has been a reduction of habitat in the countryside which they are having to share with predatory badgers,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
- “They have moved into residential areas where the problems they face are rat poison, strimming and mowing. They are also being rapped in netting where they suffer horrific injuries and have to be put to sleep.
- “They used to be able to go from one garden to another for food, but because of fencing they can’t do that any more.”
In addition, we have also sprayed our countryside with insecticides, neglected our woodlands for papers and with nearly 40 million vehicles on our roads almost ten times as many as in 1950 — life for the hedgehog has become grim.
I think a good proportion of the hedgehog decrease is due to us, humans. Not just the getting run over but other things like our obsession with fencing everything off. Many years ago I would imagine most gardens in cities or suburbs had a nice row of bushes or hedge adjoining the garden to the next house. Easy for the hogs to move from place to place. Now? Concrete walls topped with waney lap panels.
Unless they can jump 6ft+, they have no chance.
A dead adult hedgehog trapped in an electric fence. Photograph: FLPA/Alamy Stock Photo
We have had issues where humans just out of wickedness kill this innocent little ones for no good reason. for example, thugs cut off the spines a Hedgehog with SCISSORS and dump him in the kitchen of a student halls of residence. see link 
In 2011 David Millward wrote an article he titled "Hedgehogs may become extinct within 15 years" that's six years ago meaning we have just nine years left. What to we do about this little creatures???
Do we let them go?? NO WE CAN'T!!
We just cant let the little cute ones go if not for any reason they help balance the Eco system.
We need to fix our broken system of farming, in which the drive towards cheap food at any price means that our wildlife loses out.
Scientific officer Llewelyn Lowen said:
“Simple things like checking before you start strimming or using your garden fork, remembering to put sports netting away when it’s not in use and keeping drains covered can really make a difference and help protect the welfare of these iconic creatures.”
Domestication.
Just in-case you fall in love with this lovely animal after reading this and want to have one as pet a few things you need to know includes,
- You are not the first to keep one of these and i does look awkward in any way so go ahead. **winks
- Other creatures are like film stars — you only ever glimpse them at a distance — but hedgehogs are like the boy or girl next door; we can get really close to them, and maybe fall in love.
- The most common pet species of hedgehog are hybrids of the white-bellied hedgehog other species include
- The North African hedgehog
- The long-eared hedgehog
- The European hedgehog
- The four-toed hedgehog
- The Indian long-eared hedgehog
- The white-bellied hedgehog
- They feed on insects, snails, frogs and toads, snakes, bird eggs, carrion, mushrooms, grass roots, berries, melons and watermelons.
- According to Wikipedia,
It is illegal to own a hedgehog as a pet in some US states and some Canadian municipalities, and breeding licenses are required. No such restrictions exist in most European countries with the exception of Scandinavia. In Italy, it is illegal to keep wild hedgehogs as pets.
So if you are in any of this states you should do well to relocate for the love of you new found friend or relocate your friend to a place where it wont be against the law to keep it so as to stay away from the wrath of the law.
According to the Eden study the top 10 list of endangered species in the UK is:
1 Red-necked phalarope
2 Black-tailed godwit
3 Scottish wildcat
4 Capercaillie
5 Cuckoo
6 Red squirrel
7 Turtle dove
8 Natterjack toad
9 Brown hare
10 Hedgehog
A child with a giant model of a hedgehog on Clapham Common Photo: David Parry/PA
Please lets suggest in the comment section way by which we can save this cute little guys and save our planet.
We should also try resteem this and create some kind of awareness for this little guys.
I just hope i did justice to this post and also referenced well @steemcleaners, @stempede, @torico and @mobbs.
I pray to get better with the art of writing and content creation.
