How do hedgehogs adapt their calendar for climate?

Heat stress is a growing health concern as thermometers hit 30 and even 40 degrees in the UK.

In humans, this can exacerbate illnesses like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma and generally make us feel tired and weary.

But what about the impact on animals? Scientists at LJMU are working with hedgehogs to better understand how they regulate their body temperature and hibernation routines to deal with hotter summers – and warmer winters.

Radio transmitters

Dr Julia Nowack is an eco physiologist at Liverpool John Moores University and studies how animals respond to changes in the environment. Julia is fitting the spiny mammals with thermo-sensitive radio transmitters to monitor when they hibernate this autumn.

Hedgehogs are an interesting case because they are heterothermic, meaning they alternate between self-regulating their body temperature and relying on the environment.

“They are heterothermic endotherms, which means that their body temperature is not stable during all of the year, they generate their own heat, but they don't keep their body temperature constant,” explains Julia.

Hedgehogs are also one of the UK’s best known hibernators – going to sleep from mid autumn through the winter.

Energy saving

Adds Julia: “Their body temperature will decrease, so they will change the set point for the body temperature to a lower level, which saves them lots of energy and allows them to survive during conditions when it's colder and less food is available. 

Speaking to BBC radio’s Crowd Science she says by tracking the rate at which their body uses energy, they can determine when the animal chooses to either maintain a high metabolic rate or to reduce it and thus understand more about the costs and benefits.

“We don’t know much about the hibernation behaviour in the wild. We do not know whether they can use the hibernation behaviour flexibly and to respond to urbanization or climate change,” Julia said.

“The work might give us some clues about the trade-offs that come with being warm-blooded trade-offs that have played a role in our evolutionary history.”