It might not look like much, but this is worthy and exciting news!

I read in The Rappler that in the Eastern Mindanao highlands of the Philippines, researchers have discovered two new species of hedgehog ... now ... before you start complaining about the obvious lack of prickles - these are both gymnures, a soft coated hedgehog.

As I am sure you are aware, hedgehog spines are just modified hair - made of keratin, same as our hair, or finger nails for that matter. So while it might seem like the spines are the defining feature of what makes a hedgehog, there are other 'hedgehogs' out there.

Taxonomy - the way in which we try to understand the relationships between organisms - breaks things down for us. So, here is where hedgehogs sit:

Kingdom (well this is obvious) - animal
Phylum - chordata (they have a back bone)
Class - mammal (where we live too!)
Order - Eulipotyphla (which means 'truly fat and blind' ... which sounds rather disparaging, but is actually a reference to part of their intestines) - within this we have hedgehogs, moles, shrews, desmans, solenodons ...
Family - Erinaceidae (our first reference to hedgehogs as Erinaceus is Latin for hedgehog - and in this family you find both 'our' hedgehogs and the other 13-15 other prickly ones, and the gymnures)
Genus - Erinaceus (there are quite a few other true hedgehog genera)
Species - europaeus 

All that just to prove the point! There is more to a hedgehog than its prickles! So what they have found in the Philippines are two species of gymnure, that fit into the same family in which we find our hedgehogs. And they are Podogymnura intermedia and Podogymnura minima.

I have never seen a gymnure - and would really love to meet one - which ever species. What they lack in prickles they make up for in other defensive strategies ... when stressed they release an apparently appalling odour - rotten onions and bad sweat! 

Back to our hedgehogs - in between trying to get my current book finished (and receiving pre-publication copies of my next one ... all about water voles) I have managed to run a hedgehog ecology training course with the amazing Grace from Hedgehog Street. We were invited to Ealing where we spent the day with many of the rangers from that area who manage the parks, and from further afield - lovely to meet Jo from Wild Chiswick ... and Sean ... a social media star in the flesh! Good job he lived up to expectations! And Jo has written a very sweet book for little kids, all about hedgehogs, of course - called Snout's First Trip Out!

Hope you all have an okay and not too chilly week ... I imagine a bunch of hedgehogs will have emerged from hibernation and are going to be regretting it in the next few days! Keep an eye out for signs of life - and if you have stopped feeding over winter, maybe pop a little out just in case.

About the photo: I did contact the Rappler to try and find permission for using the image that they used, but have received no reply. I do like to try and make sure to ask - and if the photographer responsible does see this, please let me know if you are okay with its use here.