Atelerix frontalis
southern African hedgehog

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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)