Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Atelerix frontalis, one of four African species of hedge­hogs, oc­curs in two ge­o­graph­i­cally sep­a­rated pop­u­la­tions within Africa. One pop­u­la­tion oc­curs in west­ern Zim­babwe and east­ern Botswana to the Cape Province in South Africa. The other pop­u­la­tion ex­ists be­tween south-west­ern An­gola and north­ern Namibia. (Wil­son and Reeder, 1993)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

South African hedge­hogs are found in a wide va­ri­ety of habi­tats. They can be found in grass­lands, scrub, rocky areas, sa­van­nah, and sub­ur­ban gar­dens. They rarely occur in deserts or in very wet areas. One re­quire­ment for good habi­tat is that there must be dry cover avail­able. Hedge­hogs use this cover to rest and rear their young. Also, the dry cover should be close to avail­able food. South African hedge­hogs are also found fre­quently in sub­ur­ban gar­dens. (van Wyk, 2002)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• scrub forest

• Other Habitat Features
• suburban

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

South African hedge­hogs have a body cov­ered with small spines, ex­cept for their belly, face and ears, which have a fine fur cov­er­ing them. The un­mis­tak­able iden­ti­fy­ing mark on this hedge­hog is a white band across the fore­head which can ex­tend over the shoul­ders or be­hind the arms to the throat and breast. Head spines are not parted. The spines are mainly white at the base and have a cen­tral dark brown to black band around the tip. The band varies in width, which can give the an­i­mal a darker or lighter ap­pear­ance. The face, limbs, and tail are cov­ered with dark brown or gray­ish brown hair, and the un­der­side can vary in color from white to black. The ears and tail are fairly short, and the snout is pointed. These an­i­mals have five toes on each front and hind paw. The legs are fairly long. The av­er­age length of the body, in­clud­ing the head, is 20 cen­time­ters, and the tail is ap­prox­i­mately two-cen­time­ters. Weight can range from 150 to 555 grams. Fe­males have two pairs of nip­ples on the chest and one pair of nip­ples on the ab­domen, with some re­ports of fe­males hav­ing more than 6 nip­ples. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  150 to 555 g

  5.29 to 19.56 oz

• Range length

  15 to 20 cm

  5.91 to 7.87 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

South African hedge­hogs are monog­a­mous. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Courtship in hedge­hogs can last for days. Males court a fe­male by walk­ing cir­cles around her. She will con­tin­u­ously re­ject him for days until she is ready to mate. After mat­ing, the male re­leases a gum-like paste into the vagina. This paste acts like a cop­u­la­tory plug, and it en­sures that his sperm will fer­til­ize the fe­male's eggs, thus en­sur­ing that his genes will be passed to fu­ture gen­er­a­tions. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980; King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002)

Ges­ta­tion lasts for ap­prox­i­mately 35 days. Lit­ters are born in Oc­to­ber through March. The num­ber of young can vary from 1 to 10, al­though lit­ter sizes of four and five are more typ­i­cal. The young will suckle the mother until they are able to eat solid food. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980; King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002)

The weight of the new­born is about 10 g. At birth, these hedge­hogs are blind and naked, with tiny spines just un­der­neath the skin. These spines will be re­placed within four to six weeks. The young open their eyes after 14 days, and within one month the ba­bies re­sem­ble small adults. They then are weaned and begin for­ag­ing with the mother at about 6 weeks of age. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980; King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002)

After about 6 weeks, the mother starts to drive the young from the nest and en­cour­ages them to dis­perse. The young will breed the fol­low­ing year. These hedge­hogs reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity in about 61 to 68 days after birth. Adult fe­male hedge­hogs can re­pro­duce sev­eral times oer year. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980; King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  These animals can breed once to several times per year.

• Breeding season

  The bulk of breeding occurs from August to February.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 10

• Average number of offspring

  4

• Average number of offspring

  5.4

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  30 to 40 days

• Range weaning age

  35 to 48 days

• Average weaning age

  40 days

• Range time to independence

  45 to 60 days

• Average time to independence

  55 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  365 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 years

Males do not par­tic­i­pate in any parental care. Fe­males nurse the young and pro­tect them until they are able to fend for them­selves. Hedge­hogs are help­less at birth, but de­velop quickly. (Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

In the wild, the life span is ap­prox­i­mately three years and hedge­hogs can live up to seven years in cap­tiv­ity. The shorter life span in the wild is due to pes­ti­cide spray­ing by farm­ers, pre­da­tion by hu­mans and other nat­ural preda­tors, being a pop­u­lar species for the ex­otic pet trade, and ve­hi­cle haz­ards. (van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  3 years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  7 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  6 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  3 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  7 years

Be­hav­ior

South African hedge­hogs are a soli­tary and mostly noc­tur­nal species. In spite of their ba­si­cally soli­tary na­ture, they can be found for­ag­ing in pairs and a mother can be found with her young. These an­i­mals tend to be more ac­tive at dawn and dusk, if the weather is cool enough they may be ac­tive dur­ing the day­time. Sea­son­ally, hedge­hogs are more ac­tive in the sum­mer months, then they begin to build up fat re­serves for the colder pe­ri­ods when they enter tor­por. In the spring when they are wak­ing from tor­por and begin to ven­ture out of their nests, they move quite slowly. (King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

Be­hav­iors be­tween two hedge­hogs in­clude snuf­fling, snort­ing, and growl­ing, and they may butt each other's heads while fight­ing. Courtship is an ex­tended rit­ual that lasts for days. A males courts a fe­male by walk­ing cir­cles around her and ex­tend­ing his snout to her. The fe­male re­jects him for a few days. As night be ex­pected from the phys­i­cal de­scrip­tion of these spine cov­ered an­i­mals, the ac­tual act of mat­ing is some­what tricky. When a fe­male is ready to mate, she will relax her spines and stretch her hindlegs until her gen­i­tals are ex­posed. This al­lows the male to safely mount her and cop­u­late. (King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

Hedge­hogs de­fend them­selves when threat­ened by rolling into a ball. This cov­ers the face, belly, and legs from a threat, leav­ing an armor of spines to face the enemy. This is done when the hedge­hog feels threat­ened or is dis­turbed. (King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

Atelerix frontalis prac­tices a self-anoint­ing process. This process is trig­gered by new scents and is de­scribed as froth­ing at the mouth after chew­ing or lick­ing the ob­ject with the new scent, after which the an­i­mal spreads the froth onto its own spines. There is no cur­rent ex­pla­na­tion for this be­hav­ior. (King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

South African hedge­hogs tend to move slowly, but they can run as fast as six to seven kilo­me­ters per hour. They are some­what docile in cap­tiv­ity, and are thought by some to make in­ter­est­ing pets. (King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• nocturnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• sedentary
• aestivation
• solitary

Home Range

In gen­eral for the genus, the home range sizes av­er­ages a ra­dius of 200 to 300 me­ters around an in­hab­ited hole. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

South African hedge­hogs are pre­dom­i­nately a soli­tary species so there is not a lot of so­cial com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Hedge­hogs snort and growl in ex­cite­ment and make a weak twit­ter­ing sound when un­easy or in strange sur­round­ings. Spit­ting and hiss­ing is a re­ac­tion of a strange an­i­mal in the ter­ri­tory. A male will chat­ter and snort while court­ing a fe­male or fight­ing with an­other male. A fe­male will snort when courted. Hedge­hogs have a very high-pitched alarm call sim­i­lar to a scream. Vi­sion is poor with lim­ited color, but they have ex­tremely good sense of hear­ing and smell. (Hal­tenorth and Diller, 1980; King­don, 1974; van Wyk, 2002)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Hedge­hogs will eat just about any­thing but they are pri­mar­ily in­sec­ti­vores. They feed on a wide va­ri­ety of foods such as bee­tles, ter­mites, grasshop­pers, moths, earth­worms, cen­tipedes, and mil­li­pedes. They will also con­sume car­rion, veg­etable mat­ter, fungi, frogs, lizards, bird eggs and chicks, and small mice when avail­able. A hedge­hog can con­sume up to 30% of its own body weight in one night. (van Wyk, 2002)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• eggs
• carrion
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• terrestrial worms

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• fruit

• Other Foods
• fungus

Pre­da­tion

De­tails on pre­da­tion in this species are lack­ing. Many car­ni­vores and birds of prey are able to kill and eat hedge­hogs. Do­mes­tic dogs also kill hedge­hogs. Hedge­hogs can pro­tect them­selves by rolling up into a spiny ball. (King­don, 1974; Nowak, 1995)

• Known Predators

  • domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)
  • raptors (Falconiformes)
  • carnivores (Carnivora)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Not a lot of in­for­ma­tion was avail­able de­tail­ing the role of A. frontalis in its ecosys­tem. These hedge­hogs pro­vide a source of food to those an­i­mals that do eat them, al­though, given their sharp spines, hedge­hogs are not a main souce of food for any par­tic­u­lar an­i­mal. Hedge­hogs com­pete with other large in­sec­ti­vores for re­sources, which may force one of the two to leave an area. This com­pe­ti­tion may in­flu­ence the dis­tri­b­u­tion of hedge­hogs. Also, through their for­ag­ing be­hav­ior, these an­i­mals may af­fect pop­u­la­tions of in­ver­te­brates and small ver­te­brates. (King­don, 1974)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

South African hedge­hogs may ac­tu­ally be ben­e­fit­ing from the in­crease of urban gar­den­ing and in turn may ben­e­fit hu­mans by eat­ing gar­den pests. African na­tives har­vest this hedge­hog to use as food and in tra­di­tional rit­u­als; it is be­lieved that smoke from burn­ing spines and dried meat will keep evil spir­its away, and also that the fat will cure ear­aches in chil­dren. This species is pop­u­lar as a pet. (Nowak, 1995; van Wyk, 2002; Wro­bel and Brown, 1997)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food
• source of medicine or drug

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

It is un­likely that this species has any neg­a­tive ef­fects on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Atelerix frontalis was on Ap­pen­dix II of CITES and was des­ig­nated as rare in South Africa. How­ever, the species is no longer listed on CITES. Major threats to pop­u­la­tions of these an­i­mals are their pop­u­lar­ity in the pet trade, de­sire­abil­ity as food, and loss of their habi­tat due to the in­crease of agri­cul­ture. (Nowak, 1995)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Wendy King (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Chris Yahnke (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point.

Ref­er­ences

Hal­tenorth, T., H. Diller. 1980. The Collins Field Guide to the Mam­mals of Africa in­clud­ing Mada­gas­car. Lex­ing­ton Mass­a­chu­setts USA: The Stephen Greene Press Inc.

King­don, J. 1974. East African Mam­mals: An Atlas of Evo­lu­tion in Africa. New York New York USA: Aca­d­e­mic Press Inc.

Nowak, R. 1995. "African Hedge­hogs" (On-line). Walker's Mam­mals of the World On­line. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 29, 2002 at http://​www.​press.​jhu.​edu/​books/​walkers_​mammals_​of_​the_​world/​insectivora/​insectivora.​erinaceidae.​atelerix.​html.

Wil­son, D., D. Reeder. 1993. Mam­mal Species of the World. Wash­ing­ton D.C., USA: Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion Press.

Wro­bel, D., S. Brown. 1997. The Hedge­hog. New York New York USA: How­ell Book House.

van Wyk, J. 2002. "Under Seige: Timid South African hedge­hogs face many threats" (On-line ). African Wildlife: Your voice for con­ser­va­tion. Ac­cessed 11/01/02 at http://​wildnetafrica.​co.​za/​wildlifearticles/​africanwildlife/​1998/​mayjune_​undersiege.​html.