Hedgehogs are more thinly spread in the UK than previously believed, a study using ink pads to record their paw prints has revealed.
17 September 2014
 |
| Green Photo Archive |
The nocturnal mammals were found at
only 39% of sites surveyed.
Experts and volunteers set up tunnels
baited with tinned sausages. Hedgehogs had to walk over ink pads to
reach the food, leaving their prints on paper.
The method allowed researchers to
identify hedgehog presence with almost complete accuracy for the
first time.
The research, which was carried out by
scientists from Nottingham Trent University, the University of
Reading and The Mammal Society, is published in the journal Mammal
Review.
Hedgehog populations in the UK are
believed to be in rapid decline.
The new
study builds a picture about how they are distributed in urban and
rural areas. The finding that hedgehogs were only present in 39% of
locations visited was "lower than anticipated", said
research team member Dr Richard Yarnell, from Nottingham Trent
University's School of Animal,
Rural and Environmental Sciences.
"Historically we thought that
hedgehogs were pretty well distributed across the country," he
told BBC Nature.
He added: "What's certainly clear
now and after using this methodology is that the populations... seem
to be quite local but not widely distributed across the countryside
as we once suspected.
"And in the wider rural landscape
they do generally seem to be absent."
The research also supported previous
findings that hedgehogs are more likely to be present in areas where
there were no badgers. But the reasons for this are unclear.
Spiky subjects
In the past, monitoring the secretive
creatures accurately has proved difficult.
The team wanted to test the
effectiveness of footprint tunnels as a way of monitoring hedgehogs
on a large scale.
The study is the first to assess
"actual hedgehog numbers on the ground", said Dr Yarnell.
Ten tunnels complete with ink pads and paper were positioned at 111
rural and urban sites and inspected for paw prints every morning.
The method can identify the presence of
hedgehogs in an area with 95% accuracy, according to the team.
"This is the first method that
we've been able to actually get a true feeling for what their habitat
preferences may be, and how they're occupying our wider countryside,"
said Dr Yarnell.
The researchers are now using the ink
pad technique to carry out the first national hedgehog survey in
England and Wales with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and
the People's Trust for Endangered Species to build a picture of the
state of the species.
Volunteers have already been setting up
and monitoring the tunnels over the summer, and the project is due to
continue from May to September in 2015.
Dr Yarnell said of the footprint
tunnels: "In terms of the methodology, it's easy to deploy, can
be used by amateurs and hopefully it will be the cornerstone of
hedgehog monitoring going into the future."
It is hoped studying hedgehogs in this
way could reveal more about their decline, and lead to more effective
conservation of the animals, which are classified as a "species
of principal importance" in England under the Natural
Environment and Rural Communities Act (NERC).
(source: BBC)
