animal wonders
Are Hedgehogs Related To Porcupines?
YouTube: | https://youtube.com/watch?v=yvKETzw-MR4 |
Previous: | Kemosabe is Sick |
Next: | Turaco Crate Training for Shows! |
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Statistics
View count: | 35,298 |
Likes: | 1,140 |
Comments: | 108 |
Duration: | 05:18 |
Uploaded: | 2021-07-15 |
Last sync: | 2024-09-21 15:30 |
Citation
Citation formatting is not guaranteed to be accurate. | |
MLA Full: | "Are Hedgehogs Related To Porcupines?" YouTube, uploaded by Animal Wonders Montana, 15 July 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvKETzw-MR4. |
MLA Inline: | (Animal Wonders Montana, 2021) |
APA Full: | Animal Wonders Montana. (2021, July 15). Are Hedgehogs Related To Porcupines? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yvKETzw-MR4 |
APA Inline: | (Animal Wonders Montana, 2021) |
Chicago Full: |
Animal Wonders Montana, "Are Hedgehogs Related To Porcupines?", July 15, 2021, YouTube, 05:18, https://youtube.com/watch?v=yvKETzw-MR4. |
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Hedgehogs and porcupine sure look similar with bodies covered in spikes, but does that mean they're related to each other just because they look alike? Jessi explains with the help of Tickles the hedgehog and Kemosabe the porcupine!
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Hedgehogs and porcupine sure look similar with bodies covered in spikes, but does that mean they're related to each other just because they look alike? Jessi explains with the help of Tickles the hedgehog and Kemosabe the porcupine!
Our Video Sponsors:
Erin, Evi, and Mike
Courtney Biddle
Mirabelle
Mengfei Liu
Theresa Kolodziej
Eric Galowitsch
Michael Petzold
Eric Wenocur_Kim Keller
Melanie Reif
Nicole Hands
Erin Radcliffe
Alana McVey
Lauren Clement
Allison Reinheimer Moore
Andrew Strickland
Mike Nichols
Laura Wilcox
Sami Quinn
Brenton Kapral
kim place-gateau
Mike Pace
Elliot Stensland
Devin Miles
BATMAN
Carrie Jackson
Alexander Herron
Julianna Backer
Nipaaahh
Katy Caris
Thank you so much for helping make these videos possible!
If you'd like your name here or featured at the end of an episode, you can become a sponsor at https://www.patreon.com/animalwonders
Solenodon Photo Credit: Solenodon joe, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
--
Looking for more awesome animal stuff?
Subscribe to Animal Wonders Montana to see all of our videos!
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Anmlwndrs
Other places to find us:
Website: http://www.animalwonders.org
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/animalwonders
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animalwondersmontana/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/animalwonders
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Skillshare Sponsor (0:00)
Thank you Skillshare for supporting this episode of the Animal Wonders. The first 1000 people to click the link in the description can get a free trial of SkillShare's premium membership.
Intro (0:09)
Hello and welcome back to Animal Wonders! I'm Jessi, this is Tinkles (?) the hedgehog, and this is Kemosabe the porcupine.
We get asked often if hedgehogs and porcupines are related. And I can understand why someone would think that because their main feature is a body covered in quills. So while these spiky friends look really similar and neither are very good at giving hugs, they actually aren't closely related at all.
Hedgehog and Porcupine Species (0:48)
Hedgehogs and porcupines come in a variety of species. There are 29 species of porcupines and 17 species of hedgehogs. Both groups of animals are classified as mammals. Which generally means that they're warm-blooded (or endothermic), their babies are fed with milk produced from their mother, and they have hair on some part of their body.
In this case, hedgehog and porcupine hair can be a variety of soft fur, wiry hair, or sharp-tipped quills but that's where the similarities end. To really understand these two animals, and figure out the differences, we need to take a look inside their mouth at their teeth.
Porcupines have very large incisors. Those are those front teeth right up here. They have two on the top and two on the bottom. They have an orange tint to the front of them because they have a layer of iron mixed in to make them extra hard.
These specialized teeth are also ever-growing. Which means they continue to grow throughout their entire life. Porcupines don't have any canines, which are the ones right next to your incisors. Instead, they have a gap between their front teeth and their molars in the back.
Their one pre-molar and three molars are also somewhat evergrowing, though they will eventually grow old enough that their molars reach the end of their growing life and will simply fall out. In total, porcupines have just 20 teeth: 16 molars and 4 incisors.
All of these teeth traits help us know that porcupines belong to a large group of mammals called rodents. So they're closely related to animals like rats, guinea pigs, and squirrels.
Hedgehogs, on the other hand, look very different inside their mouths. They have 36 to 44 sharp pointed teeth. None of their teeth are evergrowing like rodent teeth, and they have three incisors instead of the two that porcupines have.
They also have canines, those pointy teeth that dogs and humans and many other mammals have. And they have three pre-molars and three molars. All of these teeth traits help them catch and chew up a variety of foods, like caterpillars, beetles, and worms.
And it helps us know they belong to the group Eulipotyphla. The Eulipotyphla family also includes shrews, moles, and solenodons. And those are hedgehogs' closest living relatives.
So even though they have a similar body covering, those thousands of quills protecting them are just a form of convergent evolution. Meaning, the same adaptation evolved on two completely different species of animals. Which really means, it must work really well.
I enjoy learning about how different animals are related to each other. The outside appearance can be deceiving sometimes! So I like to say, "When in doubt, look at the teeth!" That will usually give you a good starting point.
Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoyed learning more about hedgehogs and porcupines. Their quills are really something, aren't they?
Skillshare Outro (3:52)
Speaking of quills, there's this neat thing I just learned about called paper quilling! And if you're into creating art, you might enjoy this class on Skillshare.
Colo Alonso's class shows you how to create fun and beautiful patterns with just paper. Colo will teach you the basics of quilling and then help you create a unique design of your name. Or, maybe you can make a neat nameplate for a special pet. I think Tinkles the hedgehog could use one of their own.
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Animal Wonders Outro (4:53)
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