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Hedgehog
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia and no living species native to the Americas. However, the extinct genus '' Amphechinus'' was once present in North America. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and they have changed little over the last fifteen million years. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Their spiny protection resembles that of porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme. Etymology The name ''hedgehog'' came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English ''heyghoge'', from ''heyg'', ''hegge'' ("hedge"), because it frequents hedgerows, and ''hoge'', ''hogg ...
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Hedgehog Sting In SEM, 20x En
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia and no living species native to the Americas. However, the extinct genus ''Amphechinus'' was once present in North America. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and they have changed little over the last fifteen million years. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Their spiny protection resembles that of porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme. Etymology The name ''hedgehog'' came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English ''heyghoge'', from ''heyg'', ''hegge'' ("hedge"), because it frequents hedgerows, and ''hoge'', ''hogge'' ("hog ...
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Hedgehog In Jurmala
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia and no living species native to the Americas. However, the extinct genus ''Amphechinus'' was once present in North America. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (family Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and they have changed little over the last fifteen million years. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Their spiny protection resembles that of porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme. Etymology The name ''hedgehog'' came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English ''heyghoge'', from ''heyg'', ''hegge'' ("hedge"), because it frequents hedgerows, and ''hoge'', ''hogge'' ("hog ...
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European Hedgehog
The European hedgehog (''Erinaceus europaeus''), also known as the West European hedgehog or common hedgehog, is a hedgehog species native to Europe from Iberia and Italy northwards into Scandinavia and westwards into the British Isles.Harris, S. & Yalden, D.W. (2008). ''Mammals of the British Isles: Handbook, 4th Edition.'' The Mammal Society, Southampton. It is a generally common and widely distributed species that can survive across a wide range of habitat types. It is a well-known species, and a favourite in European gardens, both for its endearing appearance and its preference for eating a range of garden pests. While populations are currently stable across much of its range, it is declining severely in Great Britain where it is now Red Listed (classified as near to extinction). Outside its native range, the species was introduced to New Zealand during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Description The European hedgehog has a generalised body structure with unspeciali ...
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Self-anointing In Animals
Self-anointing in animals, sometimes called anointing or anting, is a behaviour whereby a non-human animal smears odoriferous substances over themselves. These substances are often the secretions, parts, or entire bodies of other animals or plants. The animal may chew these substances and then spread the resulting saliva mixture over their body, or they may apply the source of the odour directly with an appendage, tool or by rubbing their body on the source. The functions of self-anointing differ between species, but it may act as self-medication, repel parasites, provide camouflage, aid in communication, or make the animal poisonous. Primates Several primate species self-anoint with various items such as millipedes, leaves and fruit. They sometimes drool while doing this. Both capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkeys perform urine washing, when they deposit a small quantity of urine onto the palm of a hand and then rub it on the sole of the opposite foot. It is thought to have ...
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Erinaceus
''Erinaceus'' is a genus of hedgehog from the family of Erinaceidae. There are four main species of ''Erinaceus''. The range is all across Europe, throughout the Middle East, parts of Russia, and extending to northern China and Korea. The European hedgehog (''Erinaceus europaeus'') has been introduced to New Zealand.Macdonald, David W. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1984 . Description As is characteristic of other hedgehogs, members of ''Erinaceus'' have spines. These spines are a modification of the hair that is formed and strengthened by keratin. They contain hollow air filled gaps separated by thin inner layers of the spine to lessen the weight load.Grzimek, Bernhard, Neil Schlager, Donna Olendorf, and Melissa C. McDade. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2004. Every spine is tapered at the end to form a point and also at the base where it then forms a bulb that is attached to the skin. The tapering at the base allo ...
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Nocturnal
Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed senses of hearing (sense), hearing, olfaction, smell, and specially adapted eyesight. Some animals, such as cats and ferrets, have eyes that can adapt to both low-level and bright day levels of illumination (see metaturnal). Others, such as bushbaby, bushbabies and (some) bats, can function only at night. Many nocturnal creatures including tarsiers and some owls have large eyes in comparison with their body size to compensate for the lower light levels at night. More specifically, they have been found to have a larger cornea relative to their eye size than diurnal creatures to increase their : in the low-light conditions. Nocturnality helps wasps, such as ''Apoica flavissima'', avoid hunting in intense sunlight. Diurnality ...
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Erinaceidae
Erinaceidae is a family in the order Eulipotyphla, consisting of the hedgehogs and moonrats. Until recently, it was assigned to the order Erinaceomorpha, which has been subsumed with the paraphyletic Soricomorpha into Eulipotyphla. Eulipotyphla has been shown to be monophyletic; Soricomorpha is paraphyletic because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs. Erinaceidae contains the well-known hedgehogs (subfamily Erinaceinae) of Eurasia and Africa and the gymnures or moonrats (subfamily Galericinae) of South-east Asia. This family was once considered part of the order Insectivora, but that polyphyletic order is now considered defunct. Characteristics Erinaceids are generally shrew-like in form, with long snouts and short tails. They are, however, much larger than shrews, ranging from in body length and in weight, in the case of the short-tailed gymnure, up to and in the moonrat. All but one species have five toes in e ...
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Echidna
Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the only surviving members of the order Monotremata. The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas, which (along with sloths and armadillos) are xenarthrans. Echidnas live in Australia and New Guinea. Echidnas evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago, descending from a platypus-like monotreme. This ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to life on land. Etymology Echidnas are named after Echidna, a creature from Greek mythology who was half-woman, half-snake, as the animal was perceived to have qualities of both mammals and reptiles. An alternative explanation is a confusion with . Physical characteristics Echidnas are medium-sized, solitar ...
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Mesechinus
''Mesechinus'' is a genus of hedgehogs. It contains four species from East Asia: * Daurian hedgehog (''Mesechinus dauuricus'') * Hugh's hedgehog (''Mesechinus hughi'') * Gaoligong forest hedgehog The Gaoligong forest hedgehog (''Mesechinus wangi'') or Wang's forest hedgehog is a species of hedgehog in the family Erinaceidae Erinaceidae is a family in the order Eulipotyphla, consisting of the hedgehogs and moonrats. Until recently, i ... (''Mesechinus wangi'') * Small-toothed forest hedgehog (''Mesechinus miodon'') References Hedgehogs Mammal genera {{erinaceidae-stub ...
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Paraechinus
''Paraechinus'' is a genus of hedgehogs. Members are small and nocturnal. The genus contains four species from North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia: * Desert hedgehog (''Paraechinus aethiopicus'') * Brandt's hedgehog (''Paraechinus hypomelas'') * Indian hedgehog The Indian hedgehog (''Paraechinus micropus'') is a species of hedgehog native to India and Pakistan. It mainly lives in sandy desert areas but can be found in other environments. Description The Indian hedgehog can be compared to the long-eare ... (''Paraechinus micropus'') * Bare-bellied hedgehog (''Paraechinus nudiventris'') References Hedgehogs Mammal genera {{erinaceidae-stub ...
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Amphechinus
''Amphechinus'' is an extinct genus of hedgehog of the family Erinaceidae, which lived in Asia and Europe during the Oligocene and in North America, Africa, Asia and Europe during the Miocene. Taxonomy ''Amphechinus'' was named by Auguste Aymard in 1850. It is not extant. It was assigned to Erinaceidae by Aymard (1850), Rich (1981) and Pickford et al. (2000). Morphology A single specimen was examined by J. I. Bloch, K. D. Rose, and P. D. Gingerich for body mass and was estimated to have a weight of .J. I. Bloch, K. D. Rose, and P. D. Gingerich. 1998. New species of Batodonoides (Lipotyphla, Geolabididae) from the early Eocene of Wyoming: smallest known mammal?. Journal of Mammalogy 79(3):804-827. Its fossils have been found in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Species ''A. akespensis, A. arvernensis, A. baudelotae, A. edwardsi, A. ginsburgi, A. golpeae, A. horncloudi, A. intermedius, A. kreuzae, A. major, A. microdus, A. minutissimus, A. robinsoni, A. taatsiingolensis'' ...
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Gymnure
Gymnures, also called hairy hedgehogs or moonrats, are mammals belonging to the subfamily Galericinae, in the family Erinaceidae and the order Eulipotyphla. Gymnures resemble rats but are not closely related as they are not rodents; they are instead closely related to hedgehogs, which also belong to Erinaceidae. They are thought to have appeared in Eastern Asia before their closest relatives, and changed little from the original ancestor, which is thought to have been also the ancestor of the shrews. Description Although the gymnures are more closely related to the hedgehogs, full-grown gymnures superficially resemble large rats, shrews or opossums. The gymnure's body plan is believed to resemble that of the earliest mammals, with a large, toothy head about 1/3 the length of the total body, a naked furless tail for balance and thermoregulatory purposes, and a plantigrade stance. In direct contrast to the closely related hedgehogs, gymnures are not spiny. They also have an o ...
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