What are the adaptations for a hedgehog in winter?

Answer 1

Its greatest adaptation is the ability to roll up in a ball, enclosing itself in quills for protection from virtually all kinds of predators.

Can sleep, or go dormant, for several weeks at a time when food is scarce.

Hedgehogs cannot see very well, but have good hearing and a sharp sense of smell. They use their long snouts to find food and sense danger.

Answer 2

Hedgehogs, like some other animals (but not people) have brown fat. Brown fat is good because it provides a lot more energy when burned then white fat. This is because brown fat has more mitochondria in it, which are metabolic organelles that speed up metabolism with increased numbers. Hedgehogs will hibernate during the winter months only if they sense that there is not enough food around to sustain them. On an eeg their brainwaves would look like that of a braindead human.Their body temperature drops to about 50 degree fahrenheit. If their body temperature drops to and below 33.8 degree, a deadly point, the brown fat is burned, they warm up, they start to shiver and they wake up. They then rebuild another home that's warmer or add onto their home or move into another hedgehog's home (or course alone, they are never social). Every 1 or 2 weeks for 1 to 2 days a hedgehog wakes up to forage for food and to drink. As spring aproaches, the hedgehog eats to regain the 1/3 of its body weight that it has lost. It still temporarily opts for hibernation after that until it is sure that there are no more cold snaps.

Answer 3

It is able to 'curl' up to protect itself from predators. It also has 'spikes' so the predators can't eat it.

Answer 4

A hedgehog has spikes on its back to protect it from over animals and a strong muscle in its back so it can curl up into a ball. It has strong claws for digging.

Answer 5

Quills,camoflauge and hibernating also sense of smell

Answer 6

They are prickly