Domestically Yours

As hedgehogs continue to become more common as pets, questions about domestication seem to occur more regularly. In fact, some breeders and owners are now suggesting the pet hedgehog should be considered a domesticated animal. However, hedgehogs have only been bred in captivity since the mid-1980's, and this claim ignores the process that is involved in an animal becoming domesticated.

What It All Means

There isn't one definition that all zoologists and scientists concur upon for domestication. However, nearly all scientists would agree that domestication is an extremely long process involving many generations of selective breeding which leads to an animal notably different that it's wild ancestor.

To be considered domesticated, an animal has to be different physically and behaviorally from their wild counterparts. The most common changes include:

Domesticated animals usually retain juvenile characteristics into adulthood.
There is most often a reduction of adult size.
Fat is typically carried as a layer underneath the skin, as opposed to a wild animal which has a fat layer around the internal organs.
Brain size decreases.
Skulls and jaws become shorter.
Teeth become smaller.
Horned animals have a greater "horn diversity" when domesticated.
Limbs become shorter and animals become bulkier, leading to a loss of speed and agility.
There is a temperament change toward more "mellow" animals.

Most of these traits are the result of long-term selective breeding for characteristics favorable to humans - such as greater meat production, greater milk production, or greater wool production. However, the process of domestication starts at a more basic level.

Simply put, you don't want your livestock to run away or your companion animal to attack you in your sleep. With this in mind, selective breeding for temperament almost always comes first.

Also, since domesticated livestock and pets don't need survival skills, domestication invariably leads to animals less suited to life in the wild. Hence the reduction of brain size, changes in horns, loss of protective fat around internal organs, and less agile animal.

The Process Begins

Based on the definition detailed above, hedgehogs certainly aren't domesticated. In fact, none of these significant physical changes can be seen in pet hedgehogs. That said, there are two areas of selective breeding currently happening with hedgehogs - color and temperament.

Selective breeding for color doesn't significantly contribute to the process of domestication. This is because most color breeding in hedgehogs involves naturally occurring variations. However, temperament breeding does, obviously, significantly change hedgehogs - or any other animal - on a very basic behavioral level.

Here at Pawprint, we've been working with hedgehogs for 1993. In that time, we've met a lot of hedgies and can confidently state that captive hedgehogs are friendlier now than even just a couple years ago.

That's not to say there aren't still many grumpy hedgehogs out there, but these animals likely haven't been bred for temperament, may have received poor handling, or possibly are unsocial for other environmental reasons. And, even when breeding for temperament, results can vary dramatically.

Keep in mind, though, that hedgehogs have only been bred as pets for about fifteen years. So, although hedgehogs may have begun the first step toward domestication, its a long, long path!