Where Can I Find Science-based Information About Hedgehogs?

 One absolute truth about the Internet is that it is full of information. The unfortunate truth is that not all of that information is of equal quality. When it comes to our little quilly friends, we want to make sure that the information we use to make decisions about what they need is based on good quality information.

If you read websites or join hedgehog interest groups, you are going to find a lot of information. Some of it seems to make a lot of sense, some of it seems kind of nonsense, and people will argue about what is true until you just want to put your quills up and go snooze in a nice, cozy tunnel.

My favorite source of science-based information is Google Scholar. Google Scholar is a google based search engine of scholarly journals/articles. This is where you can easily search for articles that are published in peer-reviewed journals. To be published in a peer-reviewed journal an article has to meet a higher standard than things that just anybody can publish on the Internet. 

Searching Google Scholar can be a bit daunting at first. If you put in the search term "hedgehog" you will get a whole bunch of articles about the hedgehog signaling pathway, which has to do with neurology, not hedgehoggery. I have found that using the scientific name of our quilly buddies, atelerix albiventris, gets a much better selection of articles. 

One important article I would like to point out is Fiber Digestion in the African White Bellied Hedgehog. If you click the .pdf icon on the article's abstract page, it will take you to the full article, which contains very important information about hedgehog's need for chitin/dietary fiber. Curious about the content of insects that hedgehogs eat? Try this article. 

For the most current research on Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome, a search of "atelerix albiventris WHS 2020" brought up this very informative article. If your hedgehog is sick for any reason, this would be a good article to take to your vet as it includes normal blood values for hedgehogs. 

Happy researching!