Baby Hedgehogs Rescued from Flooded Nest   Love Nature - video Dailymotion

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00:00 (upbeat music)

00:03 In the heart of the bustling capital city of Malawi,

00:06 Lilongwe Wildlife Center welcomes any wild animal

00:09 in need of help.

00:10 The center has more than 200 animals in its care,

00:19 but its doors are always open.

00:22 Vet nurse, Auza, has just collected

00:28 three more tiny orphans that have been

00:30 dropped off at reception.

00:56 All new intakes are checked into the center

00:58 by head of animal care, Tori.

01:00 Oh, they're just baby babies.

01:03 - Yeah, so one of them looks weak.

01:06 When she was giving them to me, she was very weak.

01:09 She was not moving that fast.

01:11 - Hi guys, you're just cold.

01:13 These are African pygmy hedgehogs.

01:17 - For a boy, and another boy, and a girl.

01:22 We get a lot of hedgehogs about this age

01:25 that come through after the rains.

01:26 They get washed out of the nests,

01:28 and they're just a little bit too young

01:30 to make it on their own.

01:32 But when they get washed out, the parents kind of disappear

01:35 'cause obviously everything's very scary and confusing.

01:37 And then we get them here.

01:39 So we just hang on to them.

01:40 At this age, depending on what they weigh,

01:42 we'll probably give them milk for maybe another week or two.

01:45 And then they can join our hedgehog crèche.

01:49 So cute.

01:55 - Vet Charlotte will make sure there are no signs of injury.

01:59 - I know they're small,

02:00 but they seem to be in fairly good body condition.

02:03 - All right, sweet pea, 78 grams.

02:07 - Tracking their body weight is the best way

02:10 to monitor their progress.

02:12 - You've got to stay on though.

02:15 70 grams.

02:17 - It's like getting disputed in my top.

02:26 You little troublemaker.

02:27 - The team decide to call this one Harry.

02:30 At 70 grams, he's smaller than his siblings,

02:33 and that's a cause for concern.

02:36 They're going to have to keep an eye on him.

02:38 - A few things that we're looking out for.

02:40 One is to make sure there's no visible wounds

02:42 or injuries to them.

02:44 Trying to check that they're active

02:46 and well hydrated as well.

02:48 And also one of the big things will be how they feed

02:53 because that's going to be very important

02:55 for getting these guys up to a good weight

02:58 where we can release them.

02:59 - Charlotte needs to make sure everyone will be able

03:04 to tell them apart.

03:06 - I am actually looking for some nail varnish,

03:10 not for myself, but to mark with these guys who's who.

03:15 So it seems like a bit of a beauty treatment,

03:18 but it's actually really important.

03:19 So we can make sure that one isn't gaining

03:22 or losing weight.

03:23 - Let's start with Harry.

03:25 Lovely colour.

03:27 - Tori is making up some special milk.

03:32 - Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant.

03:34 So we have to kind of play chef

03:36 and make the best supplement that we can.

03:40 So we use soy milk, a mixture of cat food,

03:43 and some oils to try and get it up to the same fats

03:47 as a hedgehog milk.

03:50 - Houses in charge of keeping the new arrivals warm.

03:53 - They like hiding in a small box.

03:57 And I cut some grass for them.

04:01 So that they feel like they're in the wild.

04:05 This is my favourite part of my job.

04:09 I like new intakes.

04:11 I like feeding the animals.

04:13 I love them.

04:14 (laughs)

04:16 - But Harry, the smallest hedgehog, doesn't want to feed.

04:25 - They don't understand what is happening.

04:27 So we just keep on trying and see

04:30 if they are going to take it.

04:31 - Harry can't afford to lose any more weight.

04:35 He's already much weaker than his siblings.

04:38 - I'll give them time to get used to a different environment

04:44 I'll not give up.

04:45 - For now, Auza is going to have to be a surrogate mum.

04:50 The other animals at the centre still need attention.

05:00 And three who demand a lot of it

05:02 are Harry the hedgehog and his siblings.

05:05 Today, it's animal care assistant Ella's turn to babysit.

05:11 - You guys have to stay in.

05:12 Ow, my finger is not a mealworm, you can't bite it.

05:16 - Ella is keeping a particularly close eye on Harry's weight.

05:22 - Harry is the smallest one out of the three of them.

05:24 And he was struggling last week when he first came in.

05:27 He wasn't putting on any weight.

05:28 He wasn't really drinking his milk.

05:31 So we'll see how he's doing today.

05:34 Okay, so he weighs 72, which is the same as yesterday.

05:40 So he's not doing amazing.

05:43 You can tell the size difference.

05:46 He's really tiny compared to the other two.

05:48 - Charlotte decides it's time to give him a helping hand.

05:55 - Right, Harry, good boy.

05:57 He's just not eating quite as well as we'd like him to.

06:02 His siblings have put on a good 30 grams each since arrival,

06:06 whereas he's only put on two.

06:08 He is the smallest of them.

06:11 The runt, so to speak.

06:12 So it might just take him that little bit longer.

06:15 But what I don't want is if he's not eating as well,

06:17 him to get dehydrated.

06:19 Would you like to try?

06:21 - Vet student, Roman,

06:23 is going to help with a miniature procedure.

06:26 - I'm just gonna give him a tiny little pick-me-up,

06:27 a little bit of fluids, a little bit of vitamins,

06:30 and hopefully we'll start to see his weight go up

06:32 and him become the same size as the others.

06:37 Very nice, good.

06:38 Good boy, Harry.

06:39 That looks great.

06:40 Good boy, I know it's strange.

06:43 It's strange.

06:44 Beautiful.

06:46 Well done, great job.

06:48 Good boy.

06:49 Should we put you back with your friends?

06:51 Despite his size, Harry should soon be well enough

06:54 to go back to the wild with his siblings.

06:57 The first step is to move them out of their box

07:02 and into an outdoor enclosure

07:04 alongside the other orphans at the center.

07:07 (gentle music)

07:09 - Putting these animals back in the world,

07:12 it's really cool,

07:14 but I always have mixed feelings

07:16 'cause I get attached to them

07:18 and sometimes it's sad to see them go,

07:20 but I'm also happy to see them going back in the world.

07:23 - Part of my job is watching the journey

07:30 that animals make when they come to us.

07:32 So they come in sick and orphaned and injured

07:35 and just really frightened,

07:36 and we get to watch them over the course

07:38 of a few weeks or months just kind of flourish

07:40 into happy, healthy individuals.

07:42 And it's just really great to know

07:44 that we were able to make a difference

07:45 and that we were that change in that animal's life.

07:48 (gentle music)

07:50 (crickets chirping)

07:53 (gentle music)

07:56 (gentle music)

07:59 Get closer to nature right here on YouTube.

Baby Hedgehogs Rescued from Flooded Nest Love Nature

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