Description
This medium-sized mammal has a body of similar length to a large tree squirrel but is more heavily built and can weigh as much as a rabbit. It is considerably larger than the hedgehog species found in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Head-and-body length can range from 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 12 in), with a vestigal tail adding only 1.5–3 cm (0.59–1.2 in). The adult weight typically ranges from 400 g (0.88 lb), after hibernation, to 1,200 g (2.6 lb), just prior to hibernation. The maximum recorded weight is 2,000 g (4.4 lb), though few specimens exceed 1,600 g (3.5 lb) even in fall. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this species is probably the largest species of hedgehog and is possibly the heaviest member of the Erinaceomorpha order, although the similarly-weighted moonrat can attain a considerably greater length. Males tend to be slightly larger than females. The animal appears brownish with most of its body covered by up to 6,000 brown and white spines. In most of its range it is unlike any other creature. However, where it co-exists with the southern white-breasted hedgehog, the two species are difficult to distinguish in the field, the latter having a white spot on its chest.
Read more about this topic: European Hedgehog
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)
“As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)