• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Accessibility options
University of Brighton
  • About us
  • Business and
    employers
  • Alumni and
    supporters
  • For
    students
  • For
    staff
  • Accessibility
    options
Open menu
Home
Home
  • Close
  • Study here
    • Meet us
    • Open days
    • Virtual tours
    • Upcoming events
    • Applicant days
    • Meet us in your country
    • Chat to our students
    • Ask us a question
    • Order a prospectus
    • Our campuses
    • Our four campuses
    • Accommodation options
    • Our halls
    • Helping you find a home
    • What you can study
    • Find a course
    • Full A-Z course list
    • Explore our subjects
    • Our academic departments
    • How to study with us
    • Undergraduate application process
    • Postgraduate application process
    • International student application process
    • Apprenticeships
    • Applying through Clearing
    • Transfer from another university
    • Fees and financial support
    • Undergraduate finance
    • Postgraduate finance
    • Our funding and support options
    • Supporting you
    • Your wellbeing
    • Student support and guidance tutors
    • Study skills support
    • Careers and employability
  • Research
    • Research and knowledge exchange
    • Research and knowledge exchange organisation
    • The Global Challenges
    • Centres of Research Excellence (COREs)
    • Research Excellence Groups (REGs)
    • Our research database
    • Information for business
    • Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP)
    • Postgraduate research degrees
    • PhD research disciplines and programmes
    • PhD funding opportunities and studentships
    • How to apply for your PhD
    • Research environment
    • Investing in research careers
    • Strategic plan
    • Research concordat
    • News, events, publications and films
    • Featured research and knowledge exchange projects
    • Research and knowledge exchange news
    • Inaugural lectures
    • Research and knowledge exchange publications and films
    • Academic staff search
  • About us
  • Business and employers
  • Alumni, supporters and giving
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • Accessibility
Search our site
Aerial view of the Moulsecoomb campus
About us
  • Your university
  • Governance and structure
  • Working with us
  • Statistics and legal
  • News and events
  • Contact us
  • News and events
    • News and events
    • News
    • Events
    • Coronavirus
    • Livestream
    • Open lectures
    • Term dates
  • News
    • News
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013

Garden scraps: British wildlife clash over leftover food

Badgers, hedgehogs, foxes and cats are becoming embroiled in fights and stand-offs over food left in British gardens, a study has revealed.

27 February 2023

Wildlife conservation experts at the University of Brighton and Nottingham Trent University analysed hundreds of videos supplied by members of the public to investigate interactions within and between different species.

The researchers found that while food left by people in urban gardens – leftovers or commercially bought for this purpose – can provide benefits for wild animals, it can also bring competitors and predators into close proximity.

While badgers tended to dominate other species in the garden hierarchy, hedgehogs were also found to have more clashes than expected, the study revealed.

Aggressive and submissive behaviour among animals in the footage was found to be more common than neutral interactions – from 316 instances where animals were spotted together 175 ended in confrontation.

Animals were more likely to confront different species than their own. Cats and foxes were found to take a particular disliking to one another, with more than three-quarters of interactions (77%) sparking some form of aggressive or defensive reaction – with cats dominating foxes.

Badgers out-competed all species in the contest for food – and to the research team’s surprise hedgehogs out-competed cats. They suggest this may be due the fact that domestic cats are not as physically or behaviourally well adapted to defend themselves against hedgehog spines as wild predators.

Within the same species, hedgehogs were found to be the most combative – with more than half (55%) of interactions between hedgehogs leading to some form of aggression.

This included a characteristic behaviour termed ‘barge and roll’ by the researchers, whereby one hedgehog attacks another by running at it, causing the victim to roll up before being pushed away by the assailant.

The researchers suggest the purpose appeared to be to move a rival away from the food, such as to the edge of the garden. In one case, an individual was pushed down a flight of concrete, and another into water.

Within species, badgers were the least competitive with one another, with just seven percent of encounters resulting in a stand-off.

The researchers say that with regards to hedgehogs specifically – a declining species – understanding their behaviour and interactions is critical for informing conservation and welfare management, including feeding practices.

“Food provided by people may help wild animals but may also attract animals together that could compete, injure, or predate each other,” said Professor Dawn Scott, lead researcher from Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.

She said: “The consequences of interactions between garden mammals are numerous and can become aggressive between competing species. It could lead to injury or death and increased competition might also reduce access to resources for subordinate species or individuals.

“Our study is the first to quantify interactions between urban mammal communities in this way and to identify hierarchical relationships between wild and domestic mammals in urban gardens.

“We need to better understand interactions between urban animals and the potential effects of providing food in this way, to ensure any potential risks are minimised.”

Dr Bryony Tolhurst at the University of Brighton said: “Feeding wildlife in gardens can also potentially unwittingly increase disease transmission between wild animals, and between wildlife and pets, by gathering them together.

“We need to understand the balance of costs and benefits of feeding animals in urban gardens, to properly guide people on how best to improve their welfare and conservation.”

The study Garden Scraps: Agonistic Interactions between Hedgehogs and Sympatric Mammals in Urban Gardens is published in the journal Animals, and also involved researchers from the University of Sussex and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Hedgehog and apples on grass

Back to top
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn icon

Contact us

University of Brighton
Mithras House
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4AT

Main switchboard 01273 600900

Course enquiries

Sign up for updates

University contacts

Report a problem with this page

Quick links Quick links

  • Courses
  • Open days
  • Order a prospectus
  • Academic departments
  • Academic staff
  • Professional services departments
  • Jobs
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Libraries
  • Term dates
  • Maps
  • Graduation
  • Site information
  • Online shop
  • COVID-19
  • The Student Contract

Information for Information for

  • Current students
  • International students
  • Media/press
  • Careers advisers/teachers
  • Parents/carers
  • Business/employers
  • Alumni/supporters
  • Suppliers
  • Local residents