The hedgehog gets its name because they pick through hedges and other under growths searching for food, and as they shuffle their way through the hedges they make piglike grunts- thus, the hedgehog.

There are 17 different species of hedgehogs indigenous to Europe, Africa, and Asia. They eat very little plant life in the wild because they prefer insects, spiders, slugs, snails, worms, and grubs. They also have a very highly developed sense of smell that helps them find food.
Hedgehogs share a distant ancestry with shrews, and have changed very little over the last 15 million years. They have adapted to a nocturnal insectivorous way of life. Surprisingly, hedgehogs are NOT related to porcupines.

Background Information