The long-eared hedgehog Hemiechinus auritus is an insectivorous animal that lives in deserts, fields and steppes. This hedgehog belongs to the same family as ordinary hedgehogs, but their body structure and habits are slightly different.

Long-eared hedgehogs, unlike other representatives of this family, have rather long ears (you guessed it!), which are slightly bent forward. Their needles also have yellowish spots. Eared hedgehogs are smaller in size than normal ones, and they run faster.

In Russia, long-eared hedgehogs are found in the steppes of the Volga region and in Novosibirsk, in the Urals, from the extreme south of western Siberia to the Altai mountains.

If necessary, hedgehogs sometimes climb mountains to heights of up to 2400 meters above sea level. To live, the hedgehog digs a deep hole up to one meter in length. The hole is closed from the outside. Sometimes eared hedgehogs occupy abandoned burrows of other animals.

Long-eared hedgehogs spend the entire winter in their hole: by autumn they insulate their home by dragging leaves into it and making some kind of nest, and for the winter they close the entrance to the hole and hibernate until spring.