{"id":426565,"date":"2026-01-21T00:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426565\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T00:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:21:17","slug":"hidden-cameras-reveal-what-hedgehogs-really-get-up-to-after-dark-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426565\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden cameras reveal what hedgehogs really get up to after dark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Hedgehogs are listed as vulnerable to extinction in the UK, with populations falling, particularly in rural areas, due to habitat loss, intensive farming and death on roads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Lead researcher, Kelly Hitchcock, of Nottingham Trent University and Chester Zoo, said: &#8220;The pattern that we&#8217;ve seen is that hedgehog populations in rural areas have declined \u2013 gardens seem like a really important habitat \u2013 so it&#8217;s really important that people are aware of that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The researchers analysed thousands of images from 415 gardens, alongside each garden&#8217;s specific characteristics, to examine how often hedgehogs were detected and which features most influenced them stopping by.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Leaving food out was the biggest factor, but the experts say providing wildlife friendly features is essential too as hedgehogs struggle to find space to hibernate and breed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">These include patches of wildflowers, native plants, leaf litter and log piles, and holes in fences so hedgehogs can roam over large areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">If you are providing wildlife food, be mindful of what that food is and whether it&#8217;s suitable for hedgehogs, said Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"> &#8220;It&#8217;s not that we want to say everybody feed hedgehogs because we don&#8217;t know the long-term impacts,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hedgehogs are listed as vulnerable to extinction in the UK, with populations falling, particularly in rural areas, due&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-426565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}