An overweight hedgehog - which experts believe could be the fattest in the world - has been put on a strict diet.

Weighing in at 2.3kg Arbuckle struggles to walk or roll into a defensive ball after overeating during the winter.

The creature was handed into The New Arc, an animal rescue centre in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, on Tuesday evening.

The team there have put him on a low calorie diet after admitting they had never seen a hedgehog so large.

They said it was the heaviest hedgehog they could find a record of.

The centre's Keith Marley said: "When he came in we were very, shocked to see the size of him.

"When we got him weighted, he came in at 2335gm which we believe is a world record.

"That would make him about four times overweight than he should be for a hedgehog his size. Ideally when getting them to a good weight, is 600gm.

"It's the first I've also had to put one on a diet.

"Usually they come in and they're starving its the second litter of the year and they don't get enough natural food and over winter we have to feed them and get them up to a good natural weight, so this in my career is a first that we've had yo put on a strict diet."

The hedgehog was named after film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and will be fed low calorie dried biscuits which will keep him feeling full but will avoid him piling on any more weight.

Mr Marley said: "He'll get a limited amount of food each day and it will be scattered around his cage so that he has to exercise to get it, as opposed to waddling along to his bowl and helping himself and then going back to sleep again.

"If you are looking after a hedgehog for an extended period of time, I suggest you keep an eye on its weight and consult with local wildlife rescue to see if it's following the right direction.

"If this gentleman had made contact with us at an earlier stage we would have been able to tell him, 'look he's overweight now, just cut back'."