The Hedgehog – the Spiny Ball!!
A Piece of Poetry, from the Pen of an Earnest Biologist (Aditya Sardana aka Adidarwinian), dedicated to The Hedgehog – the Spiny Ball!!
“Look out under the log,
There lives a hedgehog,
It does not appear when the Sun shines,
Only to appear in the night as a ball of spines.”
Hedgehogs are found in the Europe, Africa, and Asia. Hedgehogs are the insectivorous (feeding on insects; insectivores) animals belonging to the subfamily Erinaceinae of the family Erinaceidae of the order Erinaceomorpha of the class Mammalia. Other members of the family Erinaceidae include the gymnures (subfamily Galericinae). The name “hedgehog” comes from its occurrence in the hedges or hedgerows, the pig-like (hog-like) snout, and the pig-like deep guttural sound made by it while searching for food.