RANGE Senegal in western Africa to southern Somalia and Tanzania on the continent’s eastern edge.
HABITAT Semiarid areas and dry savannahs
DIET Insects, eggs, frogs, fruit, fungi, lizards, mice, and snakes
African pygmy hedgehogs are also called four-toed hedgehogs. Hedgehogs are related to gymnures and shrews. Hedgehogs may have 5,000 to 6,500 quills.
They are solitary and territorial. These small mammals find shelter in and under logs, rocks, roots of trees and brush piles, in termite mounds, and in burrows.
They depend on their excellent hearing and sense of smell that can detect prey two inches or more below ground.
Newborns are blind and weigh about 0.35 ounces. Their eyes open in 8 – 18 days. Young are born with soft, short spines that lengthen and harden soon after birth.
There are currently no major threats to this species as a whole.
