Hedgehog Lore and Legends - Morning milk

Do hedgehogs suck cows' udders?

It's not surprising that such a strange-looking little animal as a hedgehog should be the subject of some extraordinary legends and beliefs. Strange hedgehog activities such as running in circles and 'self-anointing' (smearing their spines with their own frothy saliva), are definitely fact, not fiction, through we don't know why they do these things.

But there are also a number of intriguing legends about hedgehogs, most of them dating back to the distant past.

It is possible that hedgehogs occasionally attempt to suck milk direct from recumbent cows. And there's another way they obtain milk in the wild - early on a summer morning, cows sit quietly chewing the cud and waiting to be taken for milking. Their full udders often ooze drops of warm, sweet-smelling milk onto the grass, attracting any passing hedgehogs.

But nobody really knows!

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