Did you know that the hedgehog lived already during the time of the dinosaurs?

The hedgehog was one of the species that survived the (presumed) meteorite impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and is still alive today.

The ancestors of modern hedgehogs belong to a group of insectivores that lived about 65 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs also roamed the Earth, in the final era of the Mesozoic. This means they survived the mass extinction of the dinosaurs caused by the meteorite impact at the end of that period.

Although the modern hedgehog, as we know it, evolved much later, fossils show that there were already small, spiky mammals related to the modern hedgehog at that time. Their ability to curl up into a ball for protection, as well as their diet of insects, likely helped them survive in a time when large predators dominated the planet.

The photo accompanying this article is created by Peter Trimming via flickr.com