Field research on hedgehogs is mainly done with European hedgehog species, but this is very limited for other hedgehog species. We aim to launch several field research studies on different hedgehog species in Africa, Europe and Asia to hopefully cover all species one day. Within our field research we will focus specifically on studying their behavior and finding differences between the species, to see how different they really are.
Since 2022 we have been doing field research onto the European hedgehog in The Netherlands and we’ll be doing so until the end of 2024. Throughout three seasons of the European hedgehog being awake, we conduct field research by observing their behavior, taking stool and urinal samples, studying their surroundings and weighing and determining their sexes. With this information we get a good view on their health and weight throughout the population of hedgehogs living in The Netherlands.
We’re currently actively planning field research in Uganda in the summer of 2025. We are currently waiting for approval from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, for the research licenses needed to conduct research in protected areas in the country. The travel initiary is already approved and is arranged by Matoke Tours, a travel agency in ‘s Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands, who has been extremely accomodating to our plans for this research. They arranged two chauffeurs for this field research to be possible: one for the day and one for the night, so we can do field research at night while travelling between areas in Uganda by day without overworking the chauffeurs. Our team is also assembled: two biologists, two breeders and Judith Duinkerken herself.
What are we researching?
With this field research, we focus on diet and behavior. We’ll be observing hedgehogs in their natural habitat while they’re out and about for roughly 10 minutes per hedgehog. We’ll also be taking stool samples, weighing the hedgehogs, measuring them and taking photo’s. The field research is a very ground level research, to build a good base to work further on in future research.
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