Northern white-breasted hedgehog
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Northern white-breasted hedgehog ( Erinaceus roumanicus ) |
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| Erinaceus roumanicus | ||||||||||||
| Barrett-Hamilton , 1900 |
The northern white-breasted hedgehog ( Erinaceus roumanicus ) or Eastern European hedgehog is a species from the genus of the small-eared hedgehog . Besides the brown-breasted hedgehog , it is the second species of hedgehog that also lives in Central Europe . In German the animal is usually only called white-breasted hedgehog or Ostigel together with the southern white- breasted hedgehog .
distribution
The white-breasted hedgehog is native to Central and Eastern Europe across the Balkan Peninsula and Crete , the Baltic States , the northern Caucasus to western Siberia . The habitat extends from sea level to at least 1400 meters.
description
It differs from the brown-breasted hedgehog mainly in the lighter color of the breast, which stands out clearly from the brown or brown-gray surroundings. With a head-trunk length of 171 to 280 millimeters, it is slightly smaller than the southern white-breasted hedgehog . The tail length is about 29 millimeters, the hind foot length 38 to 43 millimeters, the ear length 28 to 34 millimeters, the condylobasal length 50 to 64 millimeters and the body weight 240 to 1232 grams. The light sections of the underside are almost white, and the center of the chest is always white. The back and top of the head are covered with spines. If attacked, it can curl up into a ball.
Way of life
The white-breasted hedgehog inhabits farmland, parks and gardens in rural and urban areas as well as moderately overgrown forest edges. Like the related brown-breasted hedgehog, the white-breasted hedgehog is a cultural follower and occurs more frequently in cultivated landscapes rather than natural environments. The animals are nocturnal loners who spend the day in a nest to look for food at night. Their diet consists mainly of insects, earthworms, millipedes and ants.
The courtship behavior
When the male approaches the female, the female usually reacts very aggressively, which is expressed by lowering the head and snorting. The male circles the female, emitting high-frequency sounds and trying to ride up again and again. However, this rarely leads to success, but if the female chooses the male, it lies on its stomach, presses down its spines and the male holds onto the spines of the female with its teeth. Then the two of them part ways again.
Systematics
Originally the northern white-breasted hedgehog was assigned to the brown-breasted hedgehog, later it was combined with the southern white-breasted hedgehog in one species. However, recent studies suggest that the two are not identical. Hutterer (2005) provisionally distinguishes the following subspecies of the Northern White-breasted Hedgehog:
- Erinaceus roumanicus roumanicus Barrett-Hamilton, 1900
- Erinaceus roumanicus bolkayi V. Martino, 1930
- Erinaceus roumanicus drozdovskii V. and E. Martino, 1933
- Erinaceus roumanicus nesiotes Bate , 1906
- Erinaceus roumanicus pallidus Stroganov, 1957
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Erinaceus roumanicus in G. Amori, R. Hutterer, B. Kryštufek, N. Yigit, G. Mitsain and LJP Muñoz: IUCN Red List of Endangered Species , 2008; Retrieved March 20, 2010
- ↑ Stéphane Aulagnier, Patrick Haffner, Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, François Moutou, Jan Zima: The mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The destination guide . Haupt, Bern et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-258-07506-8 , p. 42 .
- ^ Rainer Hutterer : Order Erinaceomorpha . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference . 3. Edition. Volume 1. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 , pp. 212-219 , 214 ( Erinaceus roumanicus ).
