Eh, what’s that?

That’s a strange skull, isn’t it? Look at these funny canines! The skull must be from a predator, because there are a lot of sharp and pointy teeth. But what kind of predator was it? Was it a marten? No, the shape of the skull is too different... Hmmm…. Read more about this mysterious skull under the cut.

Of course I know the animal we are looking for. With a skull length of about 7cm and these typical canines it’s easy to figure it out: It’s the skull of a hedgehog! Hedgehogs have very sharp and pointy teeth which they need to chew on snails, worms and insects.

Hedgehogs have a secret life, because they are crepuscular and nocturnal animals. They are often shy and small so it’s easy to overlook them – as many car drivers do in particular. The hedgehogs must eat a lot of food, especially in autumn, because they need a lot of fat for hibernating.

Last autumn a few hedgehogs were at the outdoor feeding dish of our cats – hedgehogs love cat food. The dad of my boyfriend grabbed one with his bare hands! We weighted the animal and checked it for vermin. Because of their hard to clean quills hedgehogs often have fleas and ticks - as did this one… So we picked out the ticks and then we released it on the cat food again.

One time at the lake I found the thistly back of a hedgehog. It was almost rotten down so I grabbed some of the quills.