Tales from Pricklington Palace.
Extraordinary and curious behaviour.
Our knowledge of hedgehog behaviour is woefully poor and far from complete but one bizarre behaviour that has been observed by most people who spend any time at all with hedgehogs is the practice of self- anointing.
This when a hedgehog produces a mass of frothy saliva which it then 'spits' onto its back and flanks with an unmistakable twist of the head and flick of the tongue. the seemingly frenzied animal may really contort its body to reach the less accessible areas with saliva.
The activity can be brief but may also last up to an hour and during the time the hedgehog is highly absorbed in the activity and is difficult to distract from it. Lindemann (1951) observed that only healthy animals participate and that it is common to all species.
A number of researchers have produced theories about what triggers this behaviour, the most likely being that it is in response to an unusual or particularly strong odour. having said that the list of substances reported to trigger self-anointing is truly mind boggling and ranges from acrid pungent items, to perfumes but includes something as innocuous as distilled water!
The interesting thing is that no one truly knows what the behaviour is for. Perhaps the odour camouflages the hedgehogs own smell as they seem to take a sample of the odorous substances and mix it with the saliva before plastering it all over their spines. some suggest that it conditions the spines and is part of grooming. Perhaps it makes the hog repellent to predators, or perhaps they simple enjoy the activity, rather like ones pet dog rolling in a cowpat the moment you let it off the lead!!!!
Gill Dixon runs
Pricklington Palace Hedgehog rescue here in Howden. Purely voluntarily and
single handedly. Please visit www.facebook.com/pricklingtonpalace/ to
support her work. Donations via www.paypal.me/Dixon1829
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