Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen (also known as Dr Hedgehog) and her colleagues have recently published new research into hedgehog rehabilitation. Dr Hedgehog, of Aalborg University and the University of Oxford’s WildCRU, studied personality traits, levels of stress and survival rates of rehabilitated hedgehogs compared to wild hedgehogs.
Stress levels
Rehabilitated hogs had a significantly higher level of the stress hormone corticosterone in their bodies, compared to wild hogs. The hormone increases due to physiological and psychological stress, and can be measured in saliva and urine. Long-term elevated stress levels, as in humans, can have serious physiological consequences for hedgehogs. The higher level of stress shows that being handled and placed in captivity can cause long-term stress in the animals. This highlights the importance of periods of captivity being as short as possible.
Personality
Personality traits, such as shyness and boldness, were measured by placing the hedgehogs into new environments or around new objects, and seeing how quick they were to explore. The personality trait data was then used with the rehabilitation data and was shown to have no influence on the post-release survival rate of rehabilitated hedgehogs. This is good news for shy hedgehogs who appear to have as much chance of success as confident ones.
Survival
Post-release survival rates between rehabilitated and wild juvenile hedgehogs were recorded and found to be no different. This means that it is worthwhile for carers to raise juveniles, as they appear to have as much success when they are released as wild hedgehogs.
The study on personality and post-release survival did have quite a small sample size of hedgehogs, so results could include some bias. Dr Hedgehog hopes that the results will contribute to an improvement of the practice of hedgehog rehabilitation, and result in shorter admission times for patients.
You can read the full scientific article here https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01816-7
One Response
I am much encouraged by this article. I am caring for a a hoglet found in my garden – definitely alone for 2 nights – no parents around – weighing just 280 grams. I took advice and bought a plastic box 17″ x14″ about 12″ high cat food (for young cat) and ‘Sike’s” hedgehog food. tore up a fleece gilet for bedding, constructed a hot water bottle from a plastic 330ml water bottle encased in a fleecy bedsock and hoglet is thriving – when last weighed 2 or 3 days ago was 300grams and active (which maybe is not a good thing) but also sleeps a lot sp I do not think has gone into hibernation. I change the newspaper lining twice a day as hoglet (Henrietta) like any baby pees and poos often! I have been advised that I must continue to care for it until Mat, 2022, so I try to avoid too much contact and the released will provide a hedgehog house in my garden and leave food and water out daily. I also plan a route through garden to next one