Hedgehog

choi

Katie Riordan and Michael M Phillips, England Is Looking for a Few Good Senior Hedgehog Officers; As 'national species' struggles, counties turn to hoglets helpers; wearing the suit. Wall Street Journal, Aug 18, 2016 (front page).
http://www.wsj.com/articles/engl ... officers-1471444003

Quote:

"the overwhelming plurality of Britons agree the hedgehog is their top choice of national species. In a 2013 BBC poll, the hedgehog won 42% of the votes, easily besting the next two hopefuls, which were the badger and oak tree.

"There is widespread agreement that Britain's hedgehogs—technically West-European hedgehogs—are in trouble. * * * Farmers have destroyed hedgerows that served as commuting routes. Homeowners are erecting fences that block hedgehogs from ranging widely for beetles and caterpillars.  It's Mr Thompson's and Ms Wright's job to persuade gardeners in Warwickshire and the West Midlands to leave escape holes in their fences, and not to tidy up leaves and other sources of shelter and food.

"hedgehogs are nocturnal

Note:
(a)
(i) "SOLIHULL, England"
(A) Solihull
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solihull
(located 8 miles (13 kilometres) southeast of Birmingham city centre; section 1.1 Toponymy: 'soily' hill)
(B) William Dargue, Solihull. A History of Birmingham Places and Placenames * * * from A to Y (blog), undated
http://billdargue.jimdo.com/plac ... /places-s/solihull/
("Its name probably derives from the Old English sol hyll meaning 'muddy hill' ")
(ii) Warwickshire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwickshire
("named after [Town of] Warwick (meaning 'dwellings by the weir' ")

(b) "It is, of course, the prerogative of Senior Hedgehog Officer Simon Thompson to order junior Hedgehog Officer Debbie Wright to wear the hedgehog costume * * * 'I do try to palm it off on Debbie more,' admits Mr Thompson."

palm off (vt): "to dispose of usually by trickery or guile"
http://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palm%20off

(c)
(i) hedgehog
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog
(name in introduction; omnivorous; hibernation)
(ii) European hedgehog
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_hedgehog
(view map for distribution; This species has an extremely short tail as an almost vestigial feature, typically 20 to 30 mm (0.79 to 1.18 in) )
(ii) Hedgehog is 刺猬, which is absent in Taiwan.

Mesechinus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesechinus
(a genus with two species)

(d) "Ms Wright used to be harvest-mouse officer for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust"

Eurasian harvest mouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_harvest_mouse
(map)

巢鼠 in Taiwan but I have not heard of such term until today.