Ryan Carp is a member of the Publicity Committee
At 10:25 AM, dancers welcomed the hedgehogs of Dave’s Domestic Hedgehogs to the 2017 UNC Dance Marathon. Holding a hedgehog is often viewed as one of the highlights of the Marathon, but many dancers are meeting a hedgehog for the first time today. Therefore, to help dancers expand their knowledge of these fascinating creatures, here are five fun facts about hedgehogs.
At 10:25 AM, dancers welcomed the hedgehogs of Dave’s Domestic Hedgehogs to the 2017 UNC Dance Marathon. Holding a hedgehog is often viewed as one of the highlights of the Marathon, but many dancers are meeting a hedgehog for the first time today. Therefore, to help dancers expand their knowledge of these fascinating creatures, here are five fun facts about hedgehogs.
- The name “hedgehog” comes from the animal’s preferred territory (the hedge) and the pig-like grunts that it makes (hog).
- A group of hedgehogs, like the one that Hedgehog Dave brought to the 2017 UNC Dance Marathon, is called an array.
- The sea urchin is named after the hedgehog; hedgehogs were originally known as urchins, and the physical resemblance between the two led to scientists naming the sea creature after its land-based doppelganger.
- Hedgehogs have between 5000 and 7000 quills, but they are neither poisonous nor barbed.
- In New Zealand, a political party once tried to get a hedgehog elected to Parliament; sadly, they were unsuccessful.