For the past 30 years, Pro Natura has selected Switzerland’s Animal of the Year, and for 2026, Switzerland’s oldest environmental organisation has chosen the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus in Latin) – a surprising decision given that this creature already has a high profile.
The common hedgehog is just the cutest little spiky ball in the world. Hearing one snuffle and munch around the garden on a balmy summer’s night is particularly enjoyable. Volunteers around the country care for injured hedgehogs. Road signs alert drivers to hedgehogs, reminding them to slow down.
Pro Natura has, nevertheless, chosen the animal to raise awareness. With numbers dwindling in Switzerland, hedgehogs have been classified as “potentially threatened” for the last four years. This is because they now live mainly in towns and villages, where they are being squeezed out of their habitat by humans. Pro Natura is calling on people to design and maintain hedgehog-friendly spaces.
These nocturnal mammals need shelters to rest and build their nests. They need openings in fences and walls so that they can roam through gardens. And they need untouched spaces where plants attract the insects on which they like to feed – beetles, millipedes and caterpillars especially. Uncovered swimming pools and robotic lawnmowers are a no-no – both are a danger to life and limb. The latter would make short shrift of a hedgehog’s spikes, of which there are up to 8,000.
Experts advise the Swiss public to forget their love of the neat and tidy; hedgehogs prefer unkempt patches with leaf piles and dead wood to pristine gardens with immaculate lawns. November is when they return to hibernation – provided they can find a suitable resting spot.
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