Hedgehogs….’A Forest Parable’….Pink Maerl….
by Bernie Bell - 08:13 on 09 March 2023
Hedgehogs…
I read about this discovery…. https://www.rappler.com/nation/mindanao/scientists-discover-hedgehog-species-2023/ in Hugh Warwick’s hedgehog news update, and Hugh goes on to say….
“I read in The Rappler that in the Eastern Mindanao highlands of the Philippines, researchers have discovered two new species of hedgehog ... now ... before you start complaining about the obvious lack of prickles - these are both gymnures, a soft coated hedgehog.
As I am sure you are aware, hedgehog spines are just modified hair - made of keratin, same as our hair, or finger nails for that matter. So while it might seem like the spines are the defining feature of what makes a hedgehog, there are other 'hedgehogs' out there.
Taxonomy - the way in which we try to understand the relationships between organisms - breaks things down for us. So, here is where hedgehogs sit:
Kingdom (well this is obvious) - animal
Phylum - chordata (they have a back bone)
Class - mammal (where we live too!)
Order - Eulipotyphla (which means 'truly fat and blind' ... which sounds rather disparaging, but is actually a reference to part of their intestines) - within this we have hedgehogs, moles, shrews, desmans, solenodons ...
Family - Erinaceidae (our first reference to hedgehogs as Erinaceus is Latin for hedgehog - and in this family you find both 'our' hedgehogs and the other 13-15 other prickly ones, and the gymnures)
Genus - Erinaceus (there are quite a few other true hedgehog genera)
Species - europaeus
All that just to prove the point! There is more to a hedgehog than its prickles! So what they have found in the Philippines are two species of gymnure, that fit into the same family in which we find our hedgehogs. And they are Podogymnura intermedia and Podogymnura minima.
I have never seen a gymnure - and would really love to meet one - which ever species. What they lack in prickles they make up for in other defensive strategies ... when stressed they release an apparently appalling odour - rotten onions and bad sweat!
Back to our hedgehogs - in between trying to get my current book finished (and receiving pre-publication copies of my next one ... all about water voles) I have managed to run a hedgehog ecology training course with the amazing Grace from Hedgehog Street. We were invited to Ealing where we spent the day with many of the rangers from that area who manage the parks, and from further afield - lovely to meet Jo from Wild Chiswick ... and Sean ... a social media star in the flesh! Good job he lived up to expectations! And Jo has written a very sweet book for little kids, all about hedgehogs, of course - called Snout's First Trip Out!
Hope you all have an okay and not too chilly week ... I imagine a bunch of hedgehogs will have emerged from hibernation and are going to be regretting it in the next few days! Keep an eye out for signs of life - and if you have stopped feeding over winter, maybe pop a little out just in case.”
Hugh very wisely mentions that some native British hedgehogs might have been lured out of hibernation by the recent fine weather and now – it’s snowing! So please keep an eye out for them and help if you can.
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A Forest Parable……
Forest Parable
A lone mushroom, grown in the dark,
thinks of his fellow fungi as enemies,
turns toadstool, buys an assault rifle
to assassinate the rest of the ring.
A fairy arises from the ground,
wearing a dress of last year’s
still-scarlet leaves and wild flowers
growing in her hair. She chides
his selfishness, his self-delusion.
Even though he can’t see into the soil,
he’s still a member of the mycelium.
But the lone mushroom won’t listen.
He’s a rugged individual who’s entitled
to all the nutrients fed to him from below.
My response was….
”Aye - you've got it all there. Extra words from me would be superfluous - (Bart raises a quizzical eyebrow!).
Fungi fascinate me - https://frontiersmagazine.org/fungi-the-good-the-bad-and-the-edible/
And there’s slime mould – not a fungus – but - what is it? - https://frontiersmagazine.org/the-wonder-that-is-slime-mould/”
And then I saw this article…. https://hothardware.com/news/scientists-create-a-living-mushroom-motherboard
Humans are users and manipulators. Maybe it’s time for the fungi to rise – not against each other, but against we users before we mess everything up and use everything up. Herrrr-umph!
The other thing that occurs to me is….fungi are too much of an un-known. How could the people using them know how they might behave/react in any given situation?
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Pink Maerl….
This little film is fascinating, informative - it’s full of LIFE…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gQTR4SwEcI
There are a couple of personal connections…..
Prof. Spencer mentions doing his PhD in Cumbrae …
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/30/cumbrae-memories/
And the music credits include ‘Vision: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen’. I rarely come across a mention of the music of Hildegard von Bingen. Listening to Hildegard has helped me through some hard times. She was a healing woman, and her Healing stretches out, through the centuries…
https://www.healthyhildegard.com/hildegard-von-bingen/
Life is full of wonders – let’s care for them rather than using them.
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/09/12/its-never-too-late/
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