38 mammals of the pacific world 



Hedgehogs and Gymnures. Family Erinaceid^ 



The Hedgehogs (Erinaceus), although widespread in Eu- 

 rope, Africa, and Asia, are not known from the Malay Sub- 

 region but they are found in Formosa. They are stout-bodied 

 mammals, about ten inches long, with short legs and tail; the 

 back and sides are covered with a dense coat of sharp spines. 

 When alarmed a hedgehog puts its head and feet underneath 

 its body and curls up into a ball, the spines all erected and pro- 

 jecting in every direction. Most hunting mammals leave hedge- 

 hogs alone. These spiny insectivores feed on worms, slugs, 

 snakes, and small mammals, in addition to insects. The four 

 or five young are nearly naked when born and are protected 

 from enemies and the weather in a nest constructed of leaves 

 and grass. 



American porcupines are sometimes wrongly called "hedge- 

 hogs," but the only things the two kinds of mammals have in 

 common to confuse people are their spines. Those of the hedge- 

 hog are firmly anchored to the skin and are not left in a wound 

 like the barbed quills of the American porcupine. True hedge- 

 hogs are not found in America. 



The gymnures are hairy, rat-like relatives of the hedgehogs. 

 They lack spines. Instead of these they have long, coarse hair 

 overlying woolly fur, and their tails are naked and rat-like. 

 Their skulls and teeth are very similar to those of the hedge- 

 hog, and this is true of their other internal structures. 



The Common Gymnure or Moom-at {Echinosorex) is 

 twenty to twenty-four inches in total length, the tail being 

 about one-third of this. The head and body are often parti- 

 colored, blackish and white, or entirely white. This insec- 

 tivore is found in the Malay region from Burma and Siam to 

 Sumatra and Borneo. 



The Lesser Gymnure {Hylomys) is brown and has a short 

 tail, only about an inch long; its over-all length is about six 



