Meeting a hedgehog in the city was a miracle ten years ago. A forest creature, spiky and cautious, in the concrete jungles? Now look at the news: a hedgehog was spotted near the Botanical Garden metro station in Moscow, and on the lawn of a residential complex in St. Petersburg. In Berlin and Vienna, hedgehogs have long been part of the urban fauna, like pigeons, only cuter. What's happening? Why is the hedgehog heading to the city, and how is it surviving there? And most importantly, are we doing it harm with our love for it?

The City as a New Forest

It seems that the city is not a place for a hedgehog. Cars, asphalt, crowds of people, and it's as bright at night as during the day. But the modern metropolis paradoxically resembles a hedgehog's natural habitat. Firstly, the private sector and new residential complexes leave green spaces. Parks, squares, vacant lots, railway embankments — all pieces of wild nature. Secondly, there are no large wild predators in the city — no foxes, wolves, or owls. The main enemy of the hedgehog, the badger, does not live in the city. Only dogs and cats are left, but the hedgehog can deal with them by rolling into a ball. Thirdly, it's warm and there's plenty of food in the city. In trash cans, dog bowls, under bird feeders — there's plenty of easy food. And this is paradise for an omnivorous hedgehog.

Therefore, the urbanization of hedgehogs is a global trend. For example, in London, there are more urban hedgehogs than rural ones. In Berlin, there are up to eight hedgehogs per square kilometer in the Tiergarten Park. In Moscow, there is no exact statistics, but zoologists say that the number of encounters has increased by 3-4 times in the last five years.

What Distinguishes the Urban Hedgehog from the Forest One

There are many differences. The forest hedgehog is shy, almost never comes out to meet humans. The urban one is accustomed to people. It can calmly cross the road under the streetlight without hiding. It can approach the door of a café where food smells. It can crawl into an open elevator and sleep under the radiator. Zoologists notice that the needles of urban hedgehogs are shorter — so they don't get caught in trash and bags as much. And they are smaller in size: constant access to food does not make them bigger, on the contrary, urban food — bread, chips, sausages — is harmful, and many urban hedgehogs suffer from obesity and diabetes. The second important difference is the regime. If the forest hedgehog is active only at night, the urban one can go out in twilight and even on a cloudy day. Cars are noisy all day long, and constant light changes biological rhythms.

Are There More Pluses or Minuses in the City for the Hedgehog

On the surface, there are many pluses for the hedgehog in the city. No predators. Warm shelters — basements, collectors, piles of boards on construction sites. Food — from the dump, from dog bowls, from lawns where there are plenty of insects and worms (lawns in parks are not mown as low as in the forest, there are many insects there). But the minuses, unfortunately, are more serious.

The first minus is roads. Hedgehogs move slowly across the asphalt. Cars hit them thousands of times. In autumn, when hedgehogs are fattening up before hibernation, they are especially active and more often end up under the wheels. The second minus is poisons. The city is poisoned with rats, cockroaches, and mosquitoes. The hedgehog eats a poisoned rat or insect and dies. The third minus is trash. Glass, plastic, ropes — the hedgehog gets tangled in them, cuts itself, gets stuck. The fourth is enclosed spaces. The hedgehog falls into a storm drain, into a drainage well, into a basement without an exit. It can't get out. The fifth is people. Good people take the hedgehog home, put it in a cage, feed it milk. Within a week, the animal dies from stress and improper nutrition. And bad people just kick the hedgehog or throw stones at it. This also happens.

How Many Hedgehogs Live in Russian Cities

There is no exact figure. No one has conducted a comprehensive count. But there is a method: by night counts on routes in parks, zoologists make extrapolations. In Moscow, according to estimates by the Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution, there are from 800 to 1500 common hedgehogs. In St. Petersburg, there are about 600-1000. In Yekaterinburg, there are fewer, about 300, the climate is harsher. In Voronezh, on the contrary, there are many green spaces, and there may be up to 500 hedgehogs. In small cities, the situation is better: fewer cars, more gardens. For example, in Sergiyev Posad, you can find a hedgehog almost in every courtyard of a private sector in the suburbs.

A worrying trend: the population is decreasing in old residential districts with dense construction and increasing in new park zones and areas with low-rise buildings. That is, the hedgehog is looking for a balance between humans and wild nature. And it chooses not the center, but the periphery.

How Do Urban Hedgehogs Hibernate

In the forest, the hedgehog makes a nest under the roots or in a pile of twigs. And in the city? It finds a basement with a dry warm floor. Or climbs into a pile of leaves that the street sweepers haven't picked up. Or sleeps in a drainage pipe. The problem is that city winters are warmer and wetter than forest ones. Perpetual thaw, puddles, salt on the roads that the melting water carries into the ground. The hedgehog can wake up in winter — and this is certain death. Communal workers check the basements several times a week and throw out "trash," including sleeping hedgehogs. Therefore, the survival rate of urban hedgehogs in winter is lower than that of forest ones. Not more than half survive until spring.

Zoologists suggest placing special wintering houses for hedgehogs in parks — boxes with hay, with an entrance, closed off from people. In Berlin, this is already the norm. In Moscow, individual activists make such houses on their plots, but the program does not work on a large scale.

What to Do If You Find a Hedgehog in the City

Scenario one: healthy, active, going its own way. Don't touch it. Don't take it home. Don't feed it. Just move your dog or cat away. Take a photo for memory and go on your way.

Scenario two: the hedgehog is lying on the open ground, on the asphalt, or staggering, weak. This is a sick or injured animal. Put on gloves, take a cardboard box, put the hedgehog in it, take it to the nearest veterinary clinic or wildlife rehabilitation center. They are available in large cities (for example, "Green Elephant" in Moscow, "Veles" in St. Petersburg). Don't try to treat it yourself. The hedgehog has a very specific physiology.

Scenario three: the hedgehog is stuck in a manhole or a drainage grate. Call the Emergency Services or any employee of communal services with a crowbar. Remove it carefully. Release it in the nearest park or square, far from the roads.

Scenario four: the hedgehog is sleeping in a pile of trash that you are going to burn or remove. Move the sleeping hedgehog to another safe pile of leaves. Don't wake it up if it's not necessary. A sleeping hedgehog seems dead, but it's alive. Don't throw it away with the trash.

Can We Help the Urban Population

Yes. And every resident can do a little. Firstly, don't use insecticides and rodenticides on lawns. Secondly, leave corners with tall grass and piles of leaves, especially in autumn. Thirdly, cover open wells and drainage holes with grates. Fourthly, don't feed hedgehogs table food. If you really want to — buy specialized hedgehog food from a pet store, dry kitten food without fat, and put it in a secluded place. And definitely — a bowl of clean water. Fifthly, tell your neighbors and children that a hedgehog is not a toy. You can't take it home, you can't pet it and hug it, you can't lick it with salted sausage.

There are also more serious measures: sign a petition to ban the use of chemicals in city parks, persuade the management company to install small nets on ventilation openings in basements where hedgehogs die, participate in winter counts of hedgehogs (they are conducted by volunteer organizations). Every saved animal is a contribution to the conservation of the species in the city.

Hedgehogs and People: Conflict or Coexistence

So far, coexistence is shaky. In some courtyards, people love hedgehogs, put out bowls, write in chat groups: "Be careful, a hedgehog at the third entrance!" In others, they are poisoned like pests: they say they carry fleas and ticks (in fact, there are no more parasites on urban hedgehogs than on stray cats). In the third, they simply don't notice, and that's a shame. Because a hedgehog in the city is an indicator of ecological health. If there are hedgehogs in your neighborhood, it means the air is not poisoned, the soil is not flooded with de-icing salt, and the lawns are not sprayed with chemicals all over.

In Europe, they have long understood: a city without hedgehogs is a sick city. In London, even a special "hedgehog route" has been created — a network of green corridors with small passages in fences, so hedgehogs can move freely between gardens. In Russia, this is still a few individual projects. But interest is growing.

The Future of Urban Hedgehogs

What awaits the population in 10-20 years? If the trend of greening courtyards, the ban on pesticides, and the construction of ecological parks continues — hedgehogs will thrive. If cities continue to be flooded with concrete, and lawns with poisons, the hedgehog will disappear from metropolises, remaining only in the suburbs. But there is hope. People want to see living nature nearby. Videos with hedgehogs get millions of views. Children ask to put up a feeding station for hedgehogs in the courtyard. The sale of hedgehog houses in online stores has increased fivefold in two years. This means that the hedgehog is going from a invisible creature to a city pet in the wild. And if we don't overdo it with care, but just leave it a little space — it will stay. Spiky, snorting, nocturnal. A wonderful neighbor.
© elib.org.in

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