Southern white-breasted hedgehog

Southern White -breasted Hedgehog (Erinaceus concolor)

The Southern White -breasted Hedgehog (Erinaceus concolor ) is a type of the family of hedgehogs. In German, the animal, together with the Northern White -breasted Hedgehog usually just called White -breasted Hedgehog or Ostigel.

Dissemination

These animals are in Western Asia and the Southern Caucasus common and are native to the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Israel, Russia, Syria, and Turkey.

Description

It differs from the Hedgehog, as the name suggests, primarily for his from about the middle is white, clearly lifted from the brown or brown-gray breast area. Sometimes there are also animals with a totally white underside. The body length of 22 to 30 centimeters and the average weight of 1000 grams correspond to the Hedgehog and the Northern White -breasted Hedgehog. The top of the head and the back are provided with spines, in case of attack for the animal to roll up into a ball.

Way of life

Not too much is known about the life of the Southern White -breasted Hedgehog, but one suspects that it coincides in most cases with that of the Northern White-breasted Hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus ). There are nocturnal and solitary, spend the day in a nest to go out at night in search of food. Their diet consists mainly of insects, earthworms and centipedes.

System

Originally, the White -breasted Hedgehog was assigned to the Hedgehog. Later investigations revealed that the Northern and Southern White -breasted Hedgehog are not conspecific.

As of 2005, the following subspecies of the Southern White-breasted Hedgehog are described:

• Erinaceus concolor concolor Martin, 1837
• Erinaceus concolor Rhodius Festa 1914
• Erinaceus concolor transcaucasicus Satunin, 1905