AnAge Home Help Human Ageing Genomic Resources Citation

AnAge entry for Erinaceus europaeus

Classification (HAGRID: 02911)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Erinaceomorpha
                Family: Erinaceidae
                    Genus: Erinaceus
SpeciesErinaceus europaeus
Common nameWestern European hedgehog

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity11.7 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizemedium
Data qualityacceptable
Observations

On average this animal reaches sexual maturity 3 months earlier in captivity. In the wild they appear to live up to 7-8 years. One captive specimen lived for 11.7 years [0671].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity253 days
Male sexual maturity253 days
Gestation30 days
Weaning42 days
Litter size1.5 (viviparous)
Litters per year1.6
Inter-litter interval
Weight at birth14.7 g
Weight at weaning235 g
Adult weight750 g
Postnatal growth rate
Maximum longevity residual87 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature307ºK or 34.0ºC or 93.2ºF
Basal metabolic rate2.4340 W
Body mass1213.5 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.002006 W/g

References
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0676] Purvis and Harvey (1995), Mammal life-history evolution: a comparative test of Charnov’s model
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0542] Bernhard Grzimek (1990), Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 633540
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
Entrez

Search all databases

Entrez Taxonomy search

Ageing literature

Search Google Scholar

Search PubMed

Search Scirus

ImagesGoogle Image search
InternetSearch Google

AnAge database at the Human Ageing Genomic Resources.

If you find any missing or incorrect data, please contact us.