Hello. It is Niina and you are watching Fairychamber Channel.
Let´s talk about wonderful creatures. Let´s talk about hedgehogs.
There hasn´t been
hedgehogs in Finnish nature for
very long time. So headline "Hedgehogs in Finnish folklore"
can be a bit misleading but
but things that happened in 19th and
20th centuries in away they are also part of the folklore.
So there are no stories or mythical tales
about hedgehogs because
they haven´t been in the area of what is now known as Finland
for that long time.
The stories how hedgehogs arrived to Finland
I thought they were very endearing so
I thought I would share them with you.
According to historical sources
in 1916 in Helsinki.
A servant girl found
something behind the dustbin.
It was a little creature
and the servant girl got really scared.
It looked like a rat
that had needles all over.
All the people of the house
came to look at the creature.
Creature could have had much worse luck.
Finland was rather conservative country
in the end of the 19th century
and the beginnig of the 20th century.
Around those times the animals
that people didn´t know before. People just killed them.
Somehow this hedgehog ends up to a man called
Rolf Walgren
He was the founder of Finnish nature protection movement
and recognized the creature as a hedgehog.
As far as I know life turned out good for this hedgehog
and it ended up to Korkeasaari (Helsinki zoo).
I really dislike zoos (korkeasaari included)
but they do some conservatory work there as well.
Anyway first hedgehogs started
to appear in Finland
in the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
Hedgehogs don´t like to wonder.
Fact that
you can find hedgehogs all over Finland. Lapland included
that´s because people have
been taken them to different areas.
When I was
way younger
we had a hedgehog couple here.
They had a nest there in the back of the garden.
I named them Sibelius and Aino (after Finnish composer and his wife..don´t ask me why. I just felt like it).
Their grand-grand-grand-grand children
are still in our yard.
We can see them around especially during Autumn.
So Finns have been spreading hedgehogs around Finland
not hedgehogs themselves because they
don´t like to wonder. But this is why
Sibelius and Aino´s grand grand grand children are still living in our garden.
Hedgehogs like to stay at one place.
They go to hibernation
in the winters.
Then they are outside during summer and autumn.
1879 near the railway in Hämeenlinna
was where the first hedgehogs in Finland
were spotted.
So hedgehogs have very slowly
spread all over Finland with people´s assistant.
Hedgehogs were brought to Finland from Estonia and Russia.
Where there was more of them. Especially in southern Russia
and in Estonia.
Hedgehogs don´t like to wonder.
They like to stay at one place.
Finns really liked hedgehogs
and probably still like today.
They are some of the most
loved "small wild" animals.
People liked especially because back in the days
it was believed that hedgehogs eat rats and mice.
Now we know that is not true.
They wera also believed to eat vermin's
and this
is true and one of the reasons why many still like hedgehogs.
I was quite chocked
when I was in UK and I heard that there hedgehogs are
endangered.
That´s mostly because housing and humans taking all the space
unlike here in Finland.
Hedgehogs don´t get to have
enough living space.
Neither way Britain´s
conservative
government isn´t the most
animal friendly.
I learned something funny
during my hedgehog research.
1685 when there was bibles translated into Finnish
there was a creature mentioned called
"Iiliskotti"
also known as "Tähtilisko"(star lizard).
Finns back then thought it was some kind of lizard (lisko = lizard in Finnish)
so they thought maybe it was a gecko or something.
But it was in fact hedgehog.
Word was translated from the Swedish word
"igelkott" which means a hedgehog.
Finnish word "siili" (hedgehog)
comes from the Estonian word "siil" which of course means hedgehog.
Hedgehogs are wonderful.
This is
how
hedgehogs arrived to Finland.
Thank you for watching. I will see you on my next video.
If you enjoyed this video
give it a thumbs up and
subscribe to my channel to hear more stories
from Finnish nature. Bye )O(
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