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We welcome Hayley, Luna’s new friend

Hayley, an African Pygmy Hedgehog arrived at DAKTARI

After hosting Luna, a blind female South African Hedgehog 2 months ago, we welcomed last month Hayley, an African Pygmy Hedgehog, also called four toed Hedgehog. She is still shy at the moment, getting used to her new home, and her new friend, Luna. But at night, she forages for food with a lot of energy. Even if Hedgehogs live usually by themselves, we can sense that Hayley is already connecting with Luna. She is going to help her live with her blindness. For instance, being blind, Luna was not able to know when it was day or night time so she was out of her little home mostly during the day. With her new friend Hayley living at night, we have seen her shifting slowly to being a nocturnal animal again. The african pygmy hedgehogs can be tame and become pets as they are more comfortable with human contact but they do not crave for it as other pets do. So we do not encourage taking these cute animals as pets as we would rather see them in the wild. We would have loved to release Hayley but as her species is not indigenous from South Africa, it would not be the best for her and our environment. They usually live in brush piles, rock crevices, and burrows. Did you know that Hedgehogs have around 5000 to 7000 spines on their back. These can be raised and lowered to respond to threatening situations. Each quill/ spine lasts about a year before dropping out and being replaced!

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