How does the hedgehog spend the winter and where does he do it

Have you ever seen a hedgehog alive? These little animals are very funny: funny grunting and loud stomping in the evening twilight, they sometimes cause real frustration with the owner of the household plot. In the countryside, they regularly feed from canine bowls, and by autumn they suddenly disappear.

As it is easy to guess, the animal goes into hibernation. So how does the hedgehog winter and where does it go for this? This fascinating topic is devoted to our article.

Normal gardeners know how many pests per season are eaten by a hedgehog, and that's why they specially create all conditions for animals, installing feeding troughs. These wonderful creatures greedily devour even slugs, with which few will manage.

They need a lot of calories: as a hedgehog hibernates throughout the cold period, he needs to gain as much fat as possible. Cold is not the main cause of hibernation. Much more important is the fact that in winter there is nothing to eat, and hedgehogs for normal life should consume an incredible amount of food per day. An excellent confirmation of this is the behavior of domesticated animals of this species, who do not even think of falling asleep.

There, where the hedgehogs hibernate, there is always a cold winter. They spend it in the hole. It should be noted that before the animal is buried in the winter "apartment" the figure of the hedgehog should acquire the elegant shape of the pear: it is immediately clear that he has fattened enough fat.

As a rule, he builds a hole for himself. Many young hedgehogs die, choosing the wrong wintering place. The mink breaks, the animal drags dry leaves into it, and its layer often reaches half a meter.

Since hedgehogs hibernate even in areas with a very severe climate, it is important for them to create conditions under which the temperature will not fall below zero.

We did not accidentally pay so much attention to the amount of fat: if they are all right, the hedgehog may fall asleep in the middle of November, while its less well-fed relatives have to find food until the last. The first fall asleep males.

As soon as the first serious colds come, the hedgehogs hurry to their nest. Once in there, they stop the passage with the same leaves. Since the hedgehog wintering in the early days is sensitive, a loud noise can easily awaken him. In this case, it is very easy to find out about the location of its nest, since it is difficult to hear stomping and loud grunts. Often because of this feature, animals die, since foxes and feral dogs do not mind eating a meal with a hedgehog.

But after the final decrease in temperature, the animal falls into a kind of anabiosis, and it is already impossible to wake it up. The temperature of his body drops to 1.8 ° C. Note that in such a state the hedgehog can be up to 240 days. If there are strong thaws, the animal can occasionally wake up, go outside, and on occasion not miss the opportunity to eat.

With the first rays of the spring sun, the hedgehogs wake up. Since they need a lot of energy, and food at this time is not enough, they can often stay awake all day long, constantly looking for food. Soon after, they begin to look for a partner for reproduction.

So you found out how the hedgehog wintered! We hope that you were interested.