Athena - Hedgehog

Athena was obtained from a local breeder in Pensacola, Florida as a juvenile hedgehog. She is now an ambassador for her species and loves to teach people more about the importance of preserving a species. In areas where hedgehogs are native, people often encourage the animals to come into their gardens as a form of pest control.  Therefore, it is so important to persevere our ecosystem and the animals around us. When we fail to do this, we must try and supplement these animals with things like pesticides that can cause cancer in humans and other animals. Hedgehogs are a perfect example of a natural pesticide alternative.

You can meet Athena at your next Wildlife Connection Encounter today.  

*Athena is a touch animal (though she is not soft and feels how she looks)*
 

Age: She was born in winter of 2020.

Favorite Treats: watermelon and mealworms. 

Favorite Toy/Enrichment: cardboard boxes, scented sticks, and hay balls.

Interesting Fact:   The spines of an adult hedgehog are permanent and cannot easily be removed without injury to the animal. However, young hedgehogs do lose the spines they are born with, replacing them with adult spines in a process called “quilling”.