There’s some fascinating facts in here along with the story of the oldest European Hedgehog… this little chap made it to 16 and didn’t die of old age (sad to read that along with other threats to our spikey friends). RIP Thorvald.
e.g. the average lifespan of a male hedgehog is 2.1 years, as opposed to 1.6 years for females.
Must say we have a healthy population of hedgehogs in our garden, at least 6 different individuals. I took three underweight hoglets to the local hedgehog centre, Help A Hedgehog Hospital, and they were rehabilitated with two being returned to me to be re-released into our bamboo which they love, along with a new female hedgehog and the third female I found was released in a new area to bring in fresh blood. The picture below was of a tiny one I came across in October who would never have made it through winter and a previous one I found in September who was feisty and a big one! 
The biggest hedgehog we ever had here was 1200grams!
