Algerian hedgehogs are mostly active at night. In the day they curl up in quiet spots - under a bush, in a stack of plant pots, or behind a garden wall. As the sun goes down, they uncurl, stretch, and start their patrol of the garden in search of food.
They eat almost anything small that moves - beetles, worms, slugs, snails, caterpillars. Maltese gardeners actually love them, because hedgehogs eat lots of the bugs that nibble vegetables. A hedgehog patrolling your tomato patch is a free, friendly pest-control service.
When a hedgehog is scared, it rolls itself into a tight prickly ball. Its sharp spines all stick out at once, and nothing can grab it. After a minute or two, it pokes its nose out carefully, sniffs the air, and if the coast is clear it unrolls and waddles on.
Hedgehogs are very good swimmers - which is just as well, because some of them probably reached Malta in the first place by floating across the sea on bits of wood thousands of years ago. Today, most live in gardens, parks and old farm walls.