Four-toed hedgehog
Amazing fact
When an African pygmy hedgehog finds an unusual taste or scent, it coats its body with frothy saliva.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
When an African pygmy hedgehog finds an unusual taste or scent, it coats its body with frothy saliva.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Four-toed hedgehog
- Scientific name
- Atelerix albiventris
- Japanese name
- ヨツユビハリネズミ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Erinaceomorpha
- Family
- Erinaceidae
- Genus
- Atelerix
A hedgehog of Africa, found from Senegal to Sudan and Zambia. It is active at night and keeps on the move.
When threatened, it rolls itself into a tight ball with its spines sticking out in every direction.
So that the mother is not hurt during birth, a newborn's spines are soft, and they start to grow after it is born.
How the Four-toed hedgehog lives
It mainly eats insects, spiders and similar animals, and sometimes eats plant matter too. It keeps its distance from other members of its species. It uses summer dormancy or winter hibernation to survive when temperatures do not suit it.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Weight
- average 600 g
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)
- Diet
- Mainly invertebrates such as spiders and insects
- Range
- Senegal to Sudan and Zambia
Where the Four-toed hedgehog has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ヨツユビハリネズミ
- 简体中文
- 西非刺猬
- 繁體中文
- 西非刺蝟
- 한국어
- 네발가락고슴도치
- Español
- Erizo pigmeo africano
- Français
- Hérisson à ventre blanc
- Deutsch
- Weißbauchigel
- Português (Brasil)
- Ouriço-pigmeu-africano
- Italiano
- Riccio dell'Africa centrale
- العربية
- قنفذ قزم أفريقي
- Русский
- Белобрюхий ёж
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Atelerix albiventrisChecked: 2026-11-03
- 東京動物園協会 — ヨツユビハリネズミ、生まれました！Checked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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