RSPCA hibernation project boosts hedgehogs' survival
Last updated 12/14/2010 4:10:10 PM
RSPCA hibernation project boosts hedgehogs survival
A new RSPCA project is to explore hedgehog hibernation patterns to help animal welfare groups know how best to take care of them over the winter months and so boost their chances of survival.
The study follows more than 40 hedgehogs in the wild with tiny transmitters so that behaviour, location and sleep patterns can be tracked and analysed to see how well they cope.
Wildlife officer Richard Thompson said: "We are all really excited about this project. It could make quite a difference to what we know about hedgehogs' winter habits and so help us with how we care for them."
The animals typically have a bit of a tough time during the winter, especially when there are such treacherous extremes as there have been recently, but there really is not that much information out there about them – this kind of study has never been done before.
Hedgehogs hibernate around late November, early December and rehabilitated animals are normally released up until then so that they can enjoy their long sleep in their natural habitat.However, autumn' hoglets, or those born in a second litter, can be too small to hibernate at this time as they don't have enough weight to draw on and last them through a whole winter.
These latecomers are typically kept in wildlife centres over the winter and then re-introduced to the wild in the spring, when the hibernation season is over.
The decision about whether and when to bring these animals into wildlife centres is usually based on the hedgehog‟s weight. The RSPCA usually recommends that if the hedgehog is under the target weight of 500 grams then it needs to come in.
Senior Scientific Officer Adam Grogan said: "This new research should help us when advising whether hedgehogs need to brought into care by providing more information on how they survive hibernation. Our ethos has always been to keep wildlife wild. We hope that these hedgehogs can teach us ways of helping other hedgehogs through this difficult time."