Cotton Thistle vs Long-eared Hedgehog

Onopordum acanthium compared with Hemiechinus auritus

Key Differences

• Cotton Thistle is Endangered while Long-eared Hedgehog is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cotton Thistle	Long-eared Hedgehog
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Erinaceomorpha (Erinaceomorpha)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Erinaceidae
Genus	Onopordum	Hemiechinus
Species	Onopordum acanthium	Hemiechinus auritus

Conservation Status

Cotton Thistle

EN — Endangered

Long-eared Hedgehog

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cotton Thistle	Long-eared Hedgehog
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cotton Thistle

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tundra, and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Georgia, India, Japan), Europe (22 countries), North America (Canada, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand), and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Long-eared Hedgehog

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Cyprus, Spain, and Ukraine.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇪🇸 Spain 🇺🇦 Ukraine