Thousands of hedgehogs could be saved from car injuries and death because of their supersonic hearing.

Scientists have discovered hedgehogs hear at a higher frequency than humans, dogs and cats.

The experts are now calling on motor manufacturers to fit ultrasound emitters to vehicles to ward off the mammals.

It’s estimated that yearly one in three hogs is killed by cars.

Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen, assistant professor at the University of Oxford said:

“Having discovered that hedgehogs can hear in ultrasound, the next stage will be to find collaborators within the car industry to fund and design sound repellents for cars.

“This could have a significant impact in reducing the threat of road traffic to the declining European hedgehog.”

The population of the European hedgehog is in serious decline in Britain.

The species is classed as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2024.

There are estimated to be fewer than one million hedgehogs in Britain.

In the 1950s there was an estimated 30 million.

Scientists are baffled why the hedgehog needs to hear at such high frequencies.

They think it may be used for communication or detecting prey in the dark.

Bats and dolphins use ultrasound for navigation and to detect small prey in murky waters or in the dark.

Dr Rasmussen added: “The fascinating question is whether hedgehogs use ultrasound to communicate with each other, or to detect prey.”

Prof David Macdonald, of Oxford’s wildlife conservation unit and co-author of the study, said:

“It is especially exciting when research motivated by conservation leads to a fundamental new discovery about a species’ biology which, full circle, in turn offers a new avenue for conservation.”