Someone sent me a picture of what I thought was a baby porcupine. I was wrong, as I just found out it's an... "agus"...???... and the baby ones are called... "ukas???"

Anyway... what the Hell are they? Sure looked like porcupines to me. Any websites where I can do some brief biology reading on these animals?

Thanks.

Russ

[ 12-12-2002, 20:57: Message edited by: Russell E. Taylor ]

I don't know the answer right off, but when my wifes gets up I'll ask her. She's from Vilnius.

DOC

[ 12-13-2002, 10:08: Message edited by: DOC ]

I don't know exactly what you mean, but I think that you speak about Marderhund (German name) The scientific name is Nyctereutes procyonoides.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/nyctereutes/n._procyonoides$narrative.html

I know also the name Enok for him.

[ 12-13-2002, 11:32: Message edited by: Sauenj�ger1 ]

Russ,

The only thing I can think of that remotely fits that description as a hedgehog....I am not sure if you guys get them in the States?

Regards,

Pete







[ 12-13-2002, 14:24: Message edited by: Pete E ]

Could also be a Nutria.



Would help a lot if you could post a picture of the animals.

Pete E

Nice pictures on the hedgehogs.
Are you haveing some sort of sanctured area for them?
Under our garden poarch we have a "winter hotell" for hedgehogs, every spring there has been around quite alot of then checking out

I think hegehogs are really cool

Russell E. Taylor,
Could you post a picture for us, it would make the indentification easier

/ JOHAN

[ 12-14-2002, 02:11: Message edited by: JOHAN ]

Searched the net, and all I could come up with so far is:

Lithuanian �kas (from *�ka), "porcupine"; is a result of IE g[^]w).

So it is a porcupine. Just spelled a little different according to the dialect.

Lynn D

Thanks for all the posts, guys.

It's a hedgehog. The lady found out what we know it as here and sent me what it was/is.

DOC: What was your wife's name originally? The person who sent me this picture, now living in Spokane, WA, was originally from Vilnius, too.

You can PM me if you want -- or not, that's okay. If you do, I'll ask this lady if she knows your wife. You never know -- "small world" and all that.

She tells me they're all over the place over there.

I can't post a picture, but the one she sent me looks exactly like a baby version of the ones Pete E. posted. (Thanks, Pete.)

Could have fooled me. Sure looked like a baby porcupine to me!

Thanks for all the research and helpful attempts, everyone!

Take care, and have a nice weekend!

Russ

Hello;
In German this is called an "Igel", in english Hedgehog. Unlike our porcupine these are a highly valued animal and are protected and nurtured by Europeans. My cousin's wife in Dortmund has a bunch around her garden that she feeds. Apparently they hibernate in the winter and they have to have a critical weight to survive. The lady was feeding them special Igel food which looked like it was made up of all kinds of things including insects and grubs. One she showed us, they are nocturnal, was just making a meal of a huge slug. She would pick these things up with her hands, since their quills appear to be fairly short and soft. They were the basis, in years past of stuffed animals named Meki and miki. I wanted to buy one, but felt the asking price of 150 E was a little steep!
Griz

My wife say that hedgehog is ezis with and accent mark over the z. Sounds like eah-zgis. Little ones are eziukis. Sounds like eah-zgyou-kis. She thinks thats what you talking about. Porcipine are a whole other thing. Lithuanian is an ancient and difficult language. The only rule that I find constant is that you pronounce every vowell. Lithuanians are a practical people, and would't waste a letter in a word if you weren't going to say it.

DOC

This is one of the more curious and interesting posts I've run across. The little creature actually is an ezys. Phonetically it could be spelled ezhees(think flat e and Zhivago). The diminutive is eziukas. And, Doc is right, it's a very difficult and old language (one of the first to evolve from Sanskrit and remains unchanged)language and one that trips me up every time I speak it.

[ 12-17-2002, 05:24: Message edited by: JoeZ ]

Does someone have any feedback on hunting and gun ownership in Lithuania?

It's a very tiny country but my ancestors came from there. I recall that my dad and uncles spoke the language and in New Britain, CT there were two Lithuanian clubs. One was named the Amber Club and the other the Vargas Club.

I cannot speak or read a word of the language. One of my uncles was a spy and he spoke Lithuanian along with most of the european languages.

There are various opportunities, from birds to boars, the latter routinely hunted at night. I'm sketchy about gun ownership but know of a former Chicagoan who recently moved back and was allowed to bring in and keep three shotguns. I have a standing invitation to hunt the country and hope to do so next autumn.