00:00 At the moment I was going out on a golf course with a big light and just looking around,
00:05 so having sort of them pinpointed for me will be really helpful to my research, saved me
00:10 a lot of time.
00:12 Katie Crawford is a PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University.
00:16 Her research is essentially looking at hibernation behaviour of hedgehogs across urban areas.
00:22 So it will mainly be focusing on hibernation, but I'm also going to be looking at sort of
00:26 stress responses and personality in hedgehogs, maybe hypothesising that in more urban areas
00:32 they're a bit more bold.
00:34 Obviously they have a lot more to contend with.
00:36 As part of her analysis she's been using data collected by members of the public.
00:41 This includes my very own parents, who've been welcoming hedgehogs into their garden
00:45 for the past few years.
00:47 The footage you're seeing here has been captured by a motion sensitive camera my dad set up
00:53 in their back garden, right here in Liverpool.
00:56 And I think this research will be really, really important to not just hedgehogs, but
01:02 to a lot of species because, you know, there's a lot of grey areas in what we're, in how
01:09 different species are reacting to urbanisation.
01:13 And there's a lot of unknowns at the moment and it would be great to have sort of something
01:16 to see if there is an impact, which I'm sure there is.
01:20 Hedgehogs love gardens.
01:21 Unfortunately, there are around half a million hectares of garden in the UK.
01:26 Katie is encouraging anyone who sees a hog to log the sighting online at the Big Hedgehog
01:32 Map.
01:33 So the most recent research was showing that they are not doing so well in rural areas,
01:38 but their population is stabilising, if not increasing in urban areas.
01:42 So they're obviously adapting very well to what we're bringing.
01:45 I think a lot of people are very keen on hedgehogs like your parents.
01:48 They put out food for them.
01:49 There's a lot of different factors, I think, that are affecting hedgehogs at the moment
01:53 and we don't actually have a population estimate for hedgehogs really, a very good one.
01:59 Hopefully, we'll get a better population estimate in the near future.
02:03 Efforts to help the UK's hedgehog population are set to get a major boost from a unique
02:08 project combining citizen scientists and artificial intelligence at Liverpool John Moores University.
02:14 The new National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme will use trail cameras to gather data on hedgehogs
02:18 at sites including parks, gardens, woodlands and farmland.
02:22 The huge number of images mean a special AI algorithm developed at the university will
02:27 be used to take out any that don't have wildlife in them.
02:30 Data from the project will provide the first reliable estimate of the UK's hedgehog population
02:35 and allow conservationists to work out how best to help the much-loved mammals.
02:41 You know, they're interacting with each other a lot more often.
02:43 They're interacting with other animals, other people.
02:46 So, yeah, we'll see if that hypothesis is correct.
02:49 But, yeah, I'm going to be looking at sort of their stress hormones as well, seeing if
02:54 there's difference in stress levels in hedgehogs in urban areas.
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