Hedgehog’s quills: A hedgehog is a small mammal. Its spines are very sharp. If you ever disturb this animal, be prepared to get stabbed by thousands of spines. Hopefully, no healthy person wants that. Right? Then never go near the spines of a hedgehog. They can attack you at any time. Since their spines are made of a protein called keratin, they are very hard. But it must be remembered that their bites do not contain any poison that can kill people. But their bites are very harmful to the skin of the human body. This special defense system of the hedgehog has given it a special advantage in surviving in the wild. The mysterious structure and defense system of these spines are also a subject of deep research for humans.
Structure of hedgehog spines
Although hedgehog’s quills are long in size, they are usually light and hollow. Since these quills are very tightly attached to the skin due to the protein called keratin, they do not wear out easily. As a result, they can use these strong spines to attack and defend at any time. Since their spines are brown or white in color, they often act as camouflage in the forest. If these spines match the color of any object in the forest, they can easily disguise themselves.
Defense Strategy
Hedgehogs become alert whenever they sense danger. If you want to scare them, you will have to be afraid. Because if you make a wrong move, they will be alert and will be the first to warn you by scaring you. They curl their bodies to show fear, which is very scary to see. If you face a hedgehog in this state in the dark of night, you will have to be afraid. The reason is that you may have scared them, so they may try to scare you by using this method. They often shake their bodies so that the spines shake and scare the enemies. They do not attack first. They try to warn any predators by scaring them first. Especially predators like dogs, foxes or cats do not easily recognize them. If they encounter a dog or fox once, they run away from there. Now you’ll understand why hedgehog’s quills are so deadly.
Again, the quills of a newborn hedgehog are very soft. They usually hide these quills under the skin. Scientists have observed that this animal brings out the hidden spines inside its body within a few days of birth. After a few weeks, the spines gradually harden and when they grow older, they are able to attack with them. As they grow older, the old spines fall off and new spines grow, this is called “quilling”. Although this process is somewhat uncomfortable for hedgehogs, it is part of their natural growth.
Environment and survival
Hedgehog’s quills helps them to live in the live in forests, bushes or gardens comfortably. Even they look for food at night. Although they are not nocturnal animals, they are active and restless throughout the day. They are usually more active at night. Therefore, these spines serve as self-defense to protect themselves from other predators that come out at night. They are able to quickly escape from small predators. If a fox runs towards them, they can easily scare them with their spines and run away silently. Recently, many industrial areas are being cleared by clearing the forest. As a result, these animals feel disturbed. So if someone sees them while clearing the forest, there is no escape. They can become aggressive and harm a person at any time. Hijab prevents environmental destruction and maintains their existence on earth.
Conclusion:
Hedgehog’s quills are an essential part of their life. It is not just an ornament to their body, but also the key to survival. This defense system of theirs is very effective at every moment of their life. These spines help them to protect themselves from the interference of any animal as one of their main defense strategies. So we should also let them live healthily without disturbing them. We should keep an eye on the next generation so that they can do more research on this animal and learn about its bite defenses.