It's hard not to love a hedgehog.

With their sharp spines, which are also known as quills, soft bellies and cone shaped

faces that look like they're forever smiling with glee, these small hand-sized

mammals have fans all over the world. The hedgehog is found in Europe, Asia and

Africa and it gets its name from its foraging behavior. The hedge part comes

from the fact that it likes to snuffle and shuffle its way through the

hedge rows and undergrowth where it hunts for snails, slugs, worms, insects and

even snakes. As it does so, it lets out a pig-like grunting sound hence the

hog part of the name. As a child growing up in Britain, I was always on the

lookout for these elusive but regular visitors of bat gardens where they make

their burrows under leaf litter and in small hollows. I'd always hope to catch

a glimpse of one as searched for food or more excitingly as it rolled up into a

spiky ball to defend itself, perhaps because of a close encounter with a pet

dog or even a fox or badger. But I soon discovered that they tend to sleep

during the day and only come out at night. In fact, sleeping is something the

hedgehog does extremely well. In Britain, hedgehogs hibernate throughout the

winter only appearing when temperatures begin to rise. There are however some

species of desert hedgehog native to Africa and the Middle East which go into

hibernation throughout the colder months, as expected, but also when

temperatures get too hot.

Hedgehogs are often mistaken as being part of the porcupine family because of

their sharp quills. In reality, the hedgehog is actually more like a spiky

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