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Url changed from https://thebrowser.com/articles/the-history-of-the-hedgehog/, which is dead.
Unedited source, with a date: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/c...
And the video, for those who are interested. http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2fed57d5-68f3-4867-bdfa...
> "This strange animal was known, of course, in Scotland, Wales and Ireland originally in Gaelic as that demonic creature, that horrid creature, and is the hedgehog celebrated by Shakespeare:
“Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen… Come not near our faerie queen”,"
It surprises me that they were ever seen that way. They weren't natural predators for any human livestock, and speaking purely unscientifically I'd say they're pretty cute...
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hedgehog&source=lnms&tbm=i...
IIRC* the hedgehogs from your search results are African hedgehogs and are commonly kept as pets (because they are just so adorable, I agree). The European hedgehog is larger, can be quite vicious and AFAIK often carry rabies.
* my ex-girlfriend had one of these as a pet
I live in the UK. Hedgehogs being vicious? Not in my experience. As for rabies, here's what our health service has to say:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Rabies/Pages/Introduction.aspx
> "In the UK, rabies is not found in the animal population (with the exception of bats)"
As for the pictures I linked to, you're right that there were a variety of different breeds, and was interesting to know some of them came from Africa, but you can spot some of the European hedgehogs in there as well. Here's a picture showing the breed of hedgehog you would typically find in the UK (if you were lucky enough to see one):
The rabies mention is notable.
Hedgehogs rarely bite unless you treat them really bad. They can deliver a strong bite but only as last resource. I never has been bitten. They will "bite you" with the spines and as they clean and cover the spines with their salive (nobody knows really why) this could lead theoretically to a rabies case. I think that is a very low risk because rabies is almost erradicated in many countries of Europe. It should be noted in any case that rabies has returned recently to Greece by the big scam (Macedonia, 2012). The first cases since 1987. Starting with a few and with about 50 cases registered of rabid animals between 2012 and 2014 at least.
Most hedgehogs in two or three minutes will relax, specially if petted. They seem to enjoy it. I have manipulated a few and is a very gentle insectivore. Shrews in the other case will readily try to bite a finger if trapped with the bare hands.
s/salive/saliva/
Rory Stewart, the speaker here, is a slightly unconventional politician, having in 2002 walked across Afghanistan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Stewart
No Sonic? :-(
I too sort of expected an artice on the video game mascot, but this is pretty interesting too.