This will be a brief post to write down an observation which indicates that urban hedgehogs are using fences (private areas) in order to escape from pursuers.
I was returning home when almost on our street (the ‘main street’ to which our smaller dirt road leads) I saw a hedgehog crossing the road.
It was too early for significant traffic but I stopped to see (from a distance) that the hedgehog got across safely.
The hedgehog has spotted us and it apparently wanted to evade us.
The hedgehog trotted quickly across the road aiming for a fence which has a gap beneath it.
It was clear that the hedgehog:
- knew that there was a gap under that particular fence (which suggests hedgehogs memorize the possible routes and access points in their range and they can swiftly recall these data even in slightly stressful situations);
- knew that people with dogs could not follow behind the fence (or that the likelihood was very low because, of course, theoretically speaking, we could have been the owners of that property which we were not).
I find this observation important because it informs on the savviness by urban hedgehogs who are obviously forming complex mental maps of the local features (which can be changing dynamically).
Also, the hedgehog was aware of the typical human/dog behaviour, i.e., that we can only follow as far as the fence.
It is interesting because, in truth, urban hedgehogs are probably not subject to great predation risk and their spineball strategy would suffice to deter almost any predator they might encounter in the streets (apart from perhaps some suburban badgers).
The most significant mortality factor in urban areas must be traffic and (accidental) destruction of hibernacula.
Still, either hedgehogs feel threatened in urban areas and they perceive cars and other types of disturbance as predation risk which is why they have developed these cognitive maps and escape tactics despite the effort that it takes (and despite the fact that escaping is not greatly more efficient than simply drawing in a ball).
Or else, they do not like disturbances (humans, dogs) cutting into their time budget.
If a hedgehog curls up into a ball, it is time wasted, especially, if the disturbance does not go away quickly.
Escape would allow the hedgehog to get rid of the nuisance swiftly and proceed with its deeds of the day (without having to spend, e.g., 10 minutes curled up somewhere unproductively).
I also wonder if hedgehogs are perhaps adjusting to the threat posed by traffic.
Many hedgehogs I have encountered in the urban areas, curl up in a ball rather than running away.
But those have mostly been hedgehogs who are located somewhere on the lawn, a good distance from the road.
Perhaps the hedgehog was aware that road was a dangerous place and if we came any closer, the hedgehog would have been forced to curl up in a ball right on the road.
Thus, the hedgehog might have decided to use its other strategy, i.e., escape under fence, because curling up in a spineball on the road was not a good alternative.
This would mean hedgehogs have subtle understanding of the trade-offs they are facing and they can make decisions in accordance to the configuration of the area.
In this circumstance, the hedgehog was aware that:
- the road was a dangerous place which should be crossed quickly;
- there was a better alternative nearby (fence);
- we were far enough not to make it to the hedgehog before it crawled under the fence;
- we were unlikely to follow.
It is an action plan worthy an army general, especially, as it was devised in seconds.
Ultimately, I also think that hedgehogs must be feeling rather… annoyed with the threat factors they cannot really change, nor they can prognosticate.
Cars are not predators that leave scent-marks, that can be avoided through vigilance (when they are heard coming, it is often too late), that can be avoided through separate habitat use (hedgehogs in urban areas must cross roads).
It might leave a sense of helplessness because, in natural habitats, most animals have at least some methods of ensuring their survival while, in urban habitats, much of the peril is outside of the animal’s control.
Perhaps attempting to escape is important for certain personality types among hedgehogs because it is an active decision. It is empowering.
The hedgehog applied its cognitive faculties and it won.
It must feel gratifying compared to just spending one’s life under threat one cannot evolve many adaptations to avoid with the only alternative being that of curling up in a ball and waiting until it was all over.
I suppose that ‘getting smart’ is the hedgehog’s way to feel in control in the chaotic urban environment which might, indeed, lower mortality rates because hedgehogs are not just ‘giving in to fate’ but actively thinking along.
***
On Apr 17, I observed another urban (small town) hedgehog in approximately the same location (could have been the same individual but could have been a different one).
It was also crossing the road and as we approached, it ran toward the nearest fence (a different fence but with a gap beneath it, as well).
I could see very clearly that once the hedgehog had squeezed under a gate, it considerably slowed down and began snuffling at the base of the hedge (the gate-part of the fence was hedgeless and the hedge grew on the right side).
Thereby, the hedgehog knew that once it had entered the property, it was safe from us.
Notes by Ieva 