The reproductive biology of the Ethiopian hedgehog, Paraechinus aethiopicus, from central Saudi Arabia: The role of rainfall and temperature

Alagaili, Abdulaziz N.; Bennett, Nigel C.; Mohammed, Osama B.; Hart, Daniel W.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.03.010

Cited by 17 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For example in arctic ground squirrels ( Urocitellus parryii ), females and non-reproductive males re-enter hibernation in response to delayed snow melt, in contrast with reproductive males 28 , potentially due to high androgen levels in such males 58 . In male desert hedgehogs testosterone levels are highest in winter (December–February) followed by an increase in testes size in late winter and spring 54 , and therefore, such a high testosterone level may limit the expression of torpor in male desert hedgehogs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in the winter activity of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in a resource-rich habitat in Qatar

Pettett

Salazar

Al-Hajri

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Hedgehogs’ wide distribution and breadth of habitat use means they are a good model taxon for investigating behavioural responses to winter conditions, such as low temperatures and resource availability. We investigated the over-winter behaviour of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in Qatar by radio-tracking 20 individuals and monitoring the body mass of 31 hedgehogs. Females spent more nights (38.63% of nights tracked) inactive than males (12.6%) and had lower monthly activity levels. The mean temperature on nights where hedgehogs were inactive was 14.9 °C compared with 17.0 °C when hedgehogs were active. By December, females lost a higher percentage of their November body mass than did males, but by February males had lost a higher percentage than females. We conclude that these sex differences in behaviour are a result of differing reproductive strategies with males becoming more active early in spring to search for mates, whereas female hedgehogs conserve energy for producing and raising young and avoid harassment by males. The winter activity of males may be facilitated by the resource-rich environment created by humans at this study site, and basking behaviour. This study highlights intraspecific and interspecific variation in behavioural strategies/tactics in response to winter conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in the winter activity of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in a resource-rich habitat in Qatar

Pettett

Salazar

Al-Hajri

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…There is a clear need for much more fundamental work on all these and other, as yet unstudied, hedgehog species". Sadly, although there has been some work on ecology, behavior, and physiology of non-European hedgehog species in the past 25 years [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], basic information about their population characteristics is still largely lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extensive research on the European hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus ) has led to the common notion that hedgehogs are characteristic of the moist temperate environments of the world. However, many hedgehog species occur in arid and semi-arid environments, such as the “desert hedgehogs” of the genus Paraechinus , and yet, little is known about their ecology and behavior in these arid environments [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. More than 25 years ago, in his monograph of hedgehogs, Reeve (1994) [ 1 ] expressed his frustration by stating “There is a frustrating lack of further studies … in non-European hedgehogs … There is a clear need for much more fundamental work on all these and other, as yet unstudied, hedgehog species”.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More than 25 years ago, in his monograph of hedgehogs, Reeve (1994) [ 1 ] expressed his frustration by stating “There is a frustrating lack of further studies … in non-European hedgehogs … There is a clear need for much more fundamental work on all these and other, as yet unstudied, hedgehog species”. Sadly, although there has been some work on ecology, behavior, and physiology of non-European hedgehog species in the past 25 years [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], basic information about their population characteristics is still largely lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Ethiopian Hedgehog ( Paraechinus aethiopicus, Ehrenberg, 1832), which is well-adapted to arid environments, has a wide distribution across North Africa and the Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula [ 1 , 2 ], and is the only native hedgehog species in Qatar [ 14 ]. There has been some recent study on the habitat use and home range of the species [ 6 , 13 ], as well as on the timing of breeding [ 5 , 9 ], hibernation [ 3 , 8 , 9 ], and behavior in winter [ 11 ]. However, there are no previous studies on the population density and dynamics of Paraechinus hedgehogs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characteristics and Demography of a Free-Ranging Ethiopian Hedgehog, Paraechinus aethiopicus, Population in Qatar

Pettett

Macdonald

Al-Hajiri

et al. 2020

Animals

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Information on population characteristics of Paraechinusis is valuable for ensuring long term survival of populations, however, studies are currently lacking. Here we investigate the population dynamics of Ethiopian hedgehogs based on a capture-mark-recapture study in Qatar by fitting Jolly-Seber and Cormack-Jolly-Seber models. Over the 19 months of the study, we estimate a mean population of 60 hedgehogs, giving a density of 7 hedgehogs per km2 in our 8.5 km2 search area. The monthly abundance of hedgehogs decreased over the study and although survival was constant over the study period, with a mean monthly rate of 75%, there was a decline in the number of new entrants over time. We also studied these parameters over one year, excluding winter, and found that monthly estimates of juvenile and subadult survival decreased over time. We surmise that survival of juveniles may be a factor in the decrease in abundance and there may be implications for the persistence of this population, with anthropogenic influenced resources playing an important role. We caught between 91.3% and 100% of the estimated population at this site, indicating that our capture methodology was efficient. We conclude that the methodology used here is transferrable to other hedgehog species.

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Tongue microarchitecture and functional characterization of the lingual papillae in the desert hedgehog (Paraechinus aethiopicus)

Massoud,

AbdRabou,

Fouda

et al. 2023

J Exp Zool Pt A

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The present work attempted to provide a comprehensive description of the morphoanatomical, histological, and ultrastructural characteristics of the tongue in the desert hedgehog (Paraechinus aethiopicus), and to correlate lingual modifications to the feeding lifestyle. Five adult male hedgehogs were utilized in our investigation. The macroscopic observations revealed elongated, with a moderately pointed apex, tongue and the tongue dorsum lacks both lingual prominence and median sulcus. The main subdivisions of the tongue are radix linguae (root), corpus linguae (body), and apex linguae (apex). The tongue dorsum carries two types of mechanical (conical and filiform) and gustatory (fungiform and circumvallate) papillae. The lingual apex is characterized by the existence of a unique encapsulated muscular structure. Additionally, the lingual glands were interposed between the muscular strands and no lingual glands were detected on the lingual apex. The dorsal surface of the lingual apex exhibited the highest level of keratinization as revealed by histochemical staining while the root showed moderate staining. The topography of the tongue was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained results are important to provide basic knowledge that can contribute to better understanding of the nourishment, feeding habits and behavior in this species. Furthermore, the addition of the newly investigated species may help us to determine the evolutionary relationships among species.

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The reproductive biology of the Ethiopian hedgehog, Paraechinus aethiopicus, from central Saudi Arabia: The role of rainfall and temperature

Cited by 17 publications

References 22 publications

Sex differences in the winter activity of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in a resource-rich habitat in Qatar

Sex differences in the winter activity of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in a resource-rich habitat in Qatar

Characteristics and Demography of a Free-Ranging Ethiopian Hedgehog, Paraechinus aethiopicus, Population in Qatar

Tongue microarchitecture and functional characterization of the lingual papillae in the desert hedgehog (Paraechinus aethiopicus)

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