How Do Little Hedgehogs Spend the Winter? A Look at Their Overwintering Habits

The hedgehog is a cute little animal. It generally has a stocky, low build, sharp claws, small eyes, a relatively long and pointed snout, sharp teeth, and a body covered in short, dense spines; its head, tail, and belly have short, soft fur. Hedgehogs are widely distributed across Europe and northern Asia, and are also very widespread in northern China and the Yangtze River basin. The most common hedgehog species in China is the Amur hedgehog. Because hedgehogs are heterothermic animals, they cannot regulate their own body temperature. So how do little hedgehogs spend the winter?

How little hedgehogs spend the winter

Hedgehogs get through the winter by “hibernating.” In winter, when the temperature begins to drop, hedgehogs still rely on eating more to maintain their body temperature in order to fend off the severe cold. Only when the temperature falls to 7°C do hedgehogs enter hibernation, usually in late autumn, and they do not wake until the following spring, when the temperature warms to a certain level.

During the four to five months of hibernation, once a hedgehog enters hibernation its body temperature drops and its other physiological functions weaken as well. When a hedgehog hibernates in its burrow, its body temperature falls to 6°C; in this state, the hedgehog has the lowest body temperature of any animal in the world, breathing 1-10 times per minute.

Hedgehogs are very particular about the burrows they inhabit: in the south they require warmth in winter and coolness in summer, with the average temperature inside the burrow kept at around 10~15°C and a depth of up to 80~100cm. In the north, where winters are cold and temperatures are low, hedgehogs overwinter in burrows 1.2m deep. Because it has no fur anywhere on its body for warmth, it fears the cold in winter and the severe heat in summer.