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Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
A visitor today2 Nov '07 4:53 pm
Meet a visitor to my garden today.
It is unusual to see Hedgehogs in the afternoon-they usually come at dusk.However I had put some bread out for the birds and it was eagerly scoffed by this little fellow.
Dixie.
HH1.JPG
He might have been searching for woodlice under the bark-mulch.
He is keeping one eye on me !
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HH2.JPG
He has found a nice chunk.
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Hh3.JPG
He decided he had had enough of me and hid under the flax.
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Native or not??2 Nov '07 10:14 pm
I find the internationalism of these little creatures amazing... any idea: is it native or introduced? Lovely moment, Dixie!
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Bambi
Slowly Learning Gardener
Kent, England
3 Nov '07 2:36 am
Oh Dixie, he's just so sweet!!  You're so lucky that he's shown his face during the day so you could get these great photos! I haven't seen my hedgehog for a while, but I'm hoping that he's just hibernating as it's starting to get a bit cold over here now.
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moosey
head gardener
3 Nov '07 6:45 am
He's a grand wee chap, and so obliging for the camera!
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Mydnyght
valued member
transtasman located kiwi
Is he Native ?3 Nov '07 1:17 pm
Jack,
Nope, The only native NZ mammals we have are aquatic, and cute little hedgehogs were from memory brought in from England, one of the few little creatures that I can think of that haven't morphed into being considered pests. I am not sure if we get them over here, but we saw one last time I was home minding his own business, I was horrified by the blase attitude of the people with me.. pushing him with their toes to see him better  How come some people are such imbeciles ?
Myd
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jack two
nominate your own title
The new improved Jack Holloway v.2
Native mammals4 Nov '07 4:56 am
Come again, Myd: the only native mammals are aquatic???
I.e. dolphins and whales? No NOTHING else? No browsers? And among the birds - no raptors? Do you have more reptiles than most? The mind boggles at all the implications.
When DID New Zealand drift off into the dawn then? I knew OZ and NZ had weird and wonderful animals, but I never realised that there was such a profound division. NO MAMMALS?? Surely not!!! Explain more, please, or point me to a book.
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moosey
head gardener
Educating Jack4 Nov '07 6:58 am
Right, Jack - here's what I reckon (though I am not actually a NZ citizen, so a grain of salt may be required)
that we have one and only one native land mammal - a native bat. I've never seen one.
All the others are introduced. There is, however, an early polynesian rat which turned up over the seas in canoes.
All else was brought here by those silly forefathers of mine to make the place look more like mother England. Hello, deer, and pigs, and stoats, and ferrets, cats and dogs, sheep and goats... And look at the cute little rabbits...
Aargh! Dixie will know if I'm right. Help, Dixie!
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Mark
Home gardener & plant fetishist
Berkeley, California, USA
No mammals sounds right to me4 Nov '07 2:26 pm
..just to put my two bits in. Afterall Australia is the land of marsupials and New Zealand is in the general neighborhood. I would think the early polynesians might have brought pigs and dogs (in addition to chickens) but I don't believe there ever were placental mammals in NZ until some people or other brought them there in the not so distant past. As I recall there is a ground dwelling parrot -a "Kea" perhaps- which is largely flightless and a meat-eater, holding a niche usually reserved for mammals. Of course New Zealand famously had huge predatory flightless birds (Moas?) before people arrived.
A book I read a few years back, Guns, Germs and Steel, had a chapter devoted specifically to New Zealand I believe. If you haven't read it I found it to be a real page-turner. It exams what resources were available to early peoples from many places around the globe. It mostly pursues the question "how come europeans were able to conquer so many other civilizations?" It seems that Europe/Asia was blessed with the most and best large domesticable mammals as well as crops and grains which were relatively easy to grow making it possible for specialization with in the population since farmers could feed more than their own families. Plants and animals utilized anywhere on the Eurasian land mass could radiate East and West since climatic changes in that direction are generally minimal compared with say the Americas or Africa which are oriented North and South on their longest axes. Oops, enough said. Besides you've probably all read it since I got to it well after it came out.
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Mark
Home gardener & plant fetishist
Berkeley, California, USA
Well that's what I get4 Nov '07 2:30 pm
for coming in at the end of a thread. Dixie, your hedgehogs are incredibly cute - a word I don't use often.
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Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
Moas4 Nov '07 4:53 pm
Most people have a Moa...
We keep ours in the garden shed.We bring it out to attend to the lawns.
Dixie.
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