Brandt's hedgehog (''Paraechinus hypomelas'') is a species of desert

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduct ...

native to parts of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

. Its common name derives from its having first been described by Johann Friedrich von Brandt, a director of the Zoological Department at the

St Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

Description

Brandt's hedgehog is approximately the size of the

West European hedgehog The European hedgehog (''Erinaceus europaeus''), also known as the West European hedgehog or common hedgehog, is a hedgehog species native to Europe from Iberia and Italy northwards into Scandinavia and westwards into the British Isles.Harris, S. ...

(about 500–1,000 g in weight and 25 cm in length), but has distinctively large ears (similar to the

long-eared hedgehog The long-eared hedgehog (''Hemiechinus auritus'') is a species of hedgehog native to Central Asian countries and some countries of the Middle East. The long-eared hedgehog lives in burrows that it either makes or finds and is distinguished by its ...

), and is a much faster runner, due to lighter needle protection. Unlike the long-eared hedgehog, however, it is predominantly

nocturnal Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have ...

. The first and only study of the Brandt's hedgehog histological skin characteristics found three layers of skin the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis; while previous studies of other hedgehogs sited only two.

Habitat

Brandt's hedgehog prefers arid desert areas and mountains. It often uses natural shelter, although it is still capable of digging dens when absolutely needed. It hibernates during colder weather.

Subspecies

There are multiple subspecies of Brandt's hedgehog: *''Paraechinus hypomelas blanfordi'' *''Paraechinus hypomelas hypomelas'' *''Paraechinus hypomelas niger'' *''Paraechinus hypomelas seniculus''

References

Brandt's hedgehog Mammals of Western Asia Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula Fauna of Iran Brandt's hedgehog Yusefi, Gholam Hosein, et al. “Morphological Analysis of Brandts Hedgehog (Paraechinus Hypomelas) Reflects the Isolation History of Persian Gulf Islands and Has Implications for Taxonomy.” Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 119, no. 2, 2016, pp. 497–510., doi:10.1111/bij.12842. {{erinaceidae-stub