Hedgehogs Soon To Be Extinct?

bradders · Jan 28, 2021

Finch said: ↑

The only mammal that routinely predates hedgehogs is the badger. They are the only creature with claws long enough to unroll the ball. They pull the balled hedgehog open, stand on each end and tear open the belly. Cats and dogs can't do that, at least not with adult hedgehogs.

Badgers, whose numbers in the UK have doubled in the last twenty years, kill a significant number of hedgehogs. They're not solely responsible for hedgehog decline but they are a significant factor. The biggest cause is roadkill. Kerbs possibly don't help, but mainly it's the sheer volume of traffic on the road, the development of the countryside, and villages becoming part of the commuter belt which has put large volumes of traffic onto rural roads at dawn and dusk.
51% of hedgehog deaths are attributed specifically to road kill. Human interference in general kills many more That means habitat loss through urbanisation, over-manicured gardens and public spaces and direct disturbance from footfall.
A big problem is dog walkers letting their animals run off the lead. Dogs aren't likely to kill hedgehogs but when they're running free in winter they can find them and rouse them from hibernation with disastrous consequences. This incidentally, is also a huge problem with adders, one of the UK's most endangered native species. Their hibernation sites are ancestral and if disturbed by dogs they will abandon them. Winter survival and breeding rate then plummets.
All these things combined are driving hedgehogs (and adders) to extinction. Essentially, there are too many human beings with their constant intrusion into wild habitat, their concrete footprint, their marauding pets and their motor vehicles to leave the space and the peace for wild creatures to survive.
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could be something in that tho, as badgers do tend to ferrets rural over urban areas more. Yes you get them but no where near like the hog or fox. And I’d imagine doubling the badger population could mean a fair whack of what must be one of their prime sources of food.

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Hedgehogs Soon To Be Extinct?

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