Brandt's hedgehog (''Paraechinus hypomelas'') is a species of desert

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 introductio ...

native to parts of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

. Its common name derives from its having first been described by

Johann Friedrich von Brandt Johann Friedrich von Brandt (25 May 1802 – 15 July 1879) was a German-Russian naturalist, who worked mostly in Russia. Brandt was born in Jüterbog and educated at a gymnasium in Wittenberg and the University of Berlin. In 1831 he emigrat ...

, a director of the Zoological Department at the

St Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

Description

Brandt's hedgehog is approximately the size of the West European hedgehog (about 500–1,000 g in weight and 25 cm in length), but has distinctively large ears (similar to the long-eared hedgehog), and is a much faster runner, due to lighter needle protection. Unlike the long-eared hedgehog, however, it is predominantly

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

. The first and only study of the Brandt's hedgehog histological skin characteristics found three layers of skin the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis; while previous studies of other hedgehogs sited only two.

Habitat

Brandt's hedgehog prefers arid desert areas and mountains. It often uses natural shelter, although it is still capable of digging dens when absolutely needed. It hibernates during colder weather.

Subspecies

There are multiple subspecies of Brandt's hedgehog: *''Paraechinus hypomelas blanfordi'' *''Paraechinus hypomelas hypomelas'' *''Paraechinus hypomelas niger'' *''Paraechinus hypomelas seniculus''

References

Brandt's hedgehog Mammals of Western Asia Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula Fauna of Iran Brandt's hedgehog Yusefi, Gholam Hosein, et al. “Morphological Analysis of Brandts Hedgehog (Paraechinus Hypomelas) Reflects the Isolation History of Persian Gulf Islands and Has Implications for Taxonomy.” Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 119, no. 2, 2016, pp. 497–510., doi:10.1111/bij.12842. {{erinaceidae-stub