Blonde hedgehog
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Blonde hedgehog photographed in Milton, Cambridgeshire
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Erinaceus europaeus Linnaeus, 1758 |
Blonde hedgehogs have a rare recessive gene giving rise to beady, button-black eyes and attractive creamy-coloured spines; they are not strictly speaking albino. They are extremely rare except on the Channel Island of Alderney and are nicknamed "Alderney Spike Girls". A population of around a thousand is believed to exist. They allegedly carry no fleas, and are a localised island variant of Erinaceus europaeus.
A small population has recently been sighted in Milton, Cambridgeshire.
