Hedgehogs could potentially live more than 15 years! Or so suggest scientists in Denmark, who recently discovered that a hedgehog named Thorvald had lived until the age of 16.
This exceptional fact is a sign of hope for the lifespan of these animals, which are vulnerable to all sorts of deadly dangers.
Hedgehogs may be spiky and cute, but they’re also a highly endangered species. Every year in Europe, about 700,000 of them lose their lives.
And the list of dangers that threaten them is long, including predators, road accidents, pesticide poisoning and more. All these factors combined make for a rather low life expectancy for these small mammals, which experts estimate at around two years.
A recent discovery by scientists in Denmark, however, gives hope for the survival of these beloved garden creatures. By performing autopsies on 700 dead hedgehogs, collected by 400 volunteers as part of a citizen science project, the researchers found that one of them – Thorvald – had lived until age 16!
He was taken in by an animal welfare center in Silkeborg, a town in central Denmark, before succumbing to injuries caused by a dog bite.
As part of this study, published in the journal “Animals”, the age of hedgehogs was determined by the growth lines in their jawbones. The case of Thorvald suggests that if hedgehogs manage to overcome the difficult first years, they may go on to have a longer life.
The first two years of life seem to be a critical period for the survival of a hedgehog. “If they manage to survive to reach the age of two years or more, they would have likely learned to avoid dangers such as cars and predators,” says Sophie Lund Rasmussen from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University, who worked on the study.
The research also notes a longer life expectancy for male hedgehogs than for female hedgehogs, at 2.1 years versus 1.6 years.
“The various findings of this study have improved our understanding of the basic life history of hedgehogs in Denmark. This information, and in particular the mortality trajectories of males and females, will eventually generate improved modelling of population dynamics to inform the important conservation management for this declining species,” the authors conclude.