Hoglets fighting?
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Hi,
I currently have a family of hedgehogs in my garden and the hoglets first appeared out about 10 days ago. They are very independent now and seem ready to leave. Last night, I watched three hoglets for about 20 minutes, rolling around on each other, pushing, shoving and biting. They weren’t fighting over food – is this them trying to gain dominance and “evict” the others from the garden or just play fighting?Hi Nessky
Hog altercations aren’t always about food. It is probably more likely to happen at feeding areas because that is where hogs are more likely to congregate. But I often see hogs being rolled up, etc. away from food (on video). They don’t have territories – they have ranges, which overlap – but more dominant ones may want to protect their personal space, wherever they happen to be. Also if there are interesting females around a dominent hog may want to make sure any other males around are safely rolled up!
Play fighting probably is, to some extent, trying to work out who is more dominant, etc. They wouldn’t be trying to evict them from the garden, but maybe just getting an idea of who they need to give in to and roll up, in future. But I find that the males tend to gradually move on when they get a bit older. They may come back from hibernation but then gradually visit less and less frequently.
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