Northern White-breasted Hedgehogs family

Wild female, captive-born babies (nearly grown).

I do not believe these *are* European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus); rather, judging by the pale chests and darker spines these are Northern White-breasted Hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus) - which would also fit the geographical area in question.

Thanks for correction!
In Russian taxonomy, northern white-breasted hedgehog is not considered a separate species yet. Just a subspecies of E. concolor.

Elephas Maximus said:

Thanks for correction!
In Russian taxonomy, northern white-breasted hedgehog is not considered a separate species yet. Just a subspecies of E. concolor.

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Interesting; to my knowledge the two have been deemed seperate since the 1990s.

I found 2 papers (in Russian) about white-breasted hedgehog:
"The patterns of intraspecific variability of white-breasted hedgehog in Caucasus", 2000
?????????????? ????????????? ???????????? ? ??????????????? ??????????? ??? (Erinaceus concolor Martin, 1838) ?? ??????? - ??????? ????????? ???????
and
"Variability of bregmatic bone in the skull of Northern white-breasted hedgehog in Belarus"
- ?? ???????????? ?????????????? ????? ? ?????? ????????? ??????????? ??? (Erinaceus concolor roumanicus) ? ?????????? ???????? / ?.?. ??????? - ???????
In both, it's a subspecies E.c.roumanicus.

TeaLovingDave said:

Interesting; to my knowledge the two have been deemed seperate since the 1990s.

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that's a bit of a liberal interpretation. In general terms, there were suggestions in the mid/late 1990s that roumanicus was distinct from concolor (and obviously concolor itself was formerly lumped in europeaus) but it wasn't until the start of the 2000s that it became widely accepted as a good split. Although it is mostly agreed upon today as being a separate species, not all taxonomists do so, taxonomy being what it is.