Please, look out for those hedgehogs

THE FORESTRY Department has urged motorists to keep a keen eye out for hedgehogs crossing the streets, as the small mammals offer natural pest control and can make great garden companions.

The department says hedgehog numbers in Cyprus have been steadily decreasing due to a perception that these animals are ‘worthless’.

“Many drivers make no effort to avoid hedgehogs on streets because they consider them to be mammals with no contribution to make.

“Some even chase them, making dangerous zigzag manoeuvres,” said Haris Nicolaou, Forestry Department officer.

As Nicolaou explained, hedgehogs are anything but worthless to humans as they are nature’s own pest control. The diet of these small mammals, which come out of their nests in the summer months, consists of 95 per cent insects.

Surprisingly, hedgehogs can eat the equivalent of their own body weight in insects per day. Therefore, placing hedgehogs in gardens and leaving some food for them outside is a great way of ensuring that gardens remain pest-free.

According to Nicoalou, chemical pesticides and poisons are an additional threat to the survival of hedgehogs. Although they are immune to most poisons, hedgehogs who consume insects that carry pesticides in their body do risk dying.

Cyprus is the only European country that hosts the Hemiechinus auritus dorotheae hedgehog. “There are 15 species of hedgehog divided into four lines that can be found in Asia, Europe, Africa and New Zealand,” Nikolaou explained.

Hedgehogs have a relatively long life expectancy, as the larger species live between four to seven years in the wild (compared to two years for a mouse and three to five years for a large rat). The smaller species live between two to four years in the wild and four to seven years in captivity.

Although life expectancy in captivity is longer due to the controlled diet and protection from predators, hedgehogs are not ideally suited for living inside houses as they have a low tolerance for temperature changes and cannot adjust to a closed environment.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.