Hedgehog offspring are now conquering your garden

In September, gardens and city parks become nurseries for wild animals. The young hedgehogs have now been born. Their spines are still soft, but their sense of smell is already well developed. After a six-week nursing period, the young brown-breasted hedgehogs set off to explore without their mother.

Hedgehogs love the city: here they can rummage to their hearts’ content through compost and leaf piles in search of earthworms, maggots, beetles, and woodlice, and feast on discarded food scraps near rubbish bins. “If a young hedgehog gets too adventurous, the temptations can sometimes cause it to lose its bearings and fail to find its way back to the nest. It then calls for its mother with soft squeaking sounds,” says Moritz Franz-Gerstein, nature and species conservation expert at the Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung.

Many of the hedgehogs found do not need our help. “Anyone who sees a hedgehog and is concerned should first make sure that something is actually wrong with it. Only if that is the case may the animal be taken from the wild,” explains Franz-Gerstein. “Under no circumstances should you give a hedgehog milk.” Anyone who finds a hedgehog in need of help should consult a vet or a hedgehog rescue centre.

Wildlife reports for the new mammal atlas

The nationwide project «Igel gesucht» (“Hedgehogs Wanted”) has been calling on people to report sightings of these spiny urban dwellers since May 2018. In parallel, volunteers from across all regions of the country are helping to detect hedgehogs using tracking tunnels. Initial results reveal gaps in their distribution.

Gaps in occurrence

Since May, 1’120 hedgehog reports have been received. Tracking tunnels have so far been set up across 105 square kilometres. No hedgehogs were detected in 48% of the squares evaluated to date. These results indicate that while hedgehogs are still widespread in Switzerland, their occurrence shows gaps that need to be investigated further. More on biodiversity.