Gymnures and Hedgehogs: Erinaceidae - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, Gymnures, Hedgehogs, And People, Conservation Status, Western European Hedgehog (erinaceus Europaeus): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET
WESTERN EUROPEAN HEDGEHOG (Erinaceus europaeus): SPECIES ACCOUNTS
MALAYAN MOONRAT (Echinosorex gymnura): SPECIES ACCOUNTS
GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Gymnures and hedgehogs are found in parts of Africa, Eurasia, central Asia, and southeast Asia. New Zealand is also home to a healthy population introduced by humans. Hedgehogs tend toward the cooler climates, while gymnures and moonrats demand tropical and subtropical areas.
HABITAT
Members of this family thrive in a number of varying habitats on land, usually living and feeding at ground level and, in some species, in burrows. A few, like the moonrat, may take an occasional swim in the water. Gymnures prefer humid forests, while hedgehogs can live in a dry and rocky desert, a busy city park, or a mountainside meadow. In fact, hedgehogs can survive almost anywhere they can find food during their night-time hunts and sheltered hideaways for their daytime slumber.
DIET
The diet of hedgehogs and gymnures can include a variety of things, but they mostly eat insects, spiders, worms and other invertebrates, animals without backbones. If they are big enough to kill a reptile, amphibian, or a small mammal, they will do so once in a while. Sometimes they will also eat fungi or fruit. In addition, hedgehogs often prey on birds' eggs. They spend most of their active hours either looking for food or eating it.
User Comments Add a comment…