Mammals · plate 22 of 60
Hedgehog
Erinaceus europaeus
Rolls up. Waits. The problem usually leaves.
Only 1.4% of people are Hedgehogs. (estimated)
If you're a Hedgehog
You deal with trouble by becoming a problem for it: curl up, present the sharp side, wait. A hedgehog carries several thousand spines and an enormous amount of patience, and so do you. You keep your own company, wander further at night than anyone suspects, and take the winter off whenever it can be arranged.
After meeting a strong new smell, a hedgehog will chew it, work up a foam of saliva and smear the foam over its own spines, and nobody knows why.
The Hedgehog as a spirit animal
Matching a Hedgehog says you are self-contained in a way other people find restful or infuriating, depending on how much they wanted from you. You notice more than you say, you are braver than your reputation, and you handle stress by going fully round. The flaw is that the same defense works on friends and threats alike. You will unroll when it is quiet. It is usually quiet eventually.
Grounded in how the species actually lives; nothing borrowed from anyone's tradition. Why we put it that way.
How to get along with a Hedgehog
Do
- Let them come to you; approach slowly and from the front.
- Keep plans small and evenings quiet; they do their best work after dark.
- Respect the winter. A Hedgehog who has withdrawn is recharging, not sulking.
Don't
- Don't poke. You will not win, and they will remember.
- Don't mistake quiet for not having an opinion.
When it goes wrong: Under pressure a Hedgehog curls up and stops responding; stop pushing, lower your voice and give it time, because the spines come down on their own and never on request.
The Hedgehog in a relationship
You are solitary by default and loyal by exception. Hedgehog courtship is the male circling the female for hours while she snorts at him, so you understand that the right person is the one who keeps circling. Once you let someone in, you expect them to know how rare that is.
Field notes
Every animal is placed on six personality traits derived from how the species lives. Your answers are placed on the same six, and the closest animal wins. How the scoring works
- Sociability
- 1
- Boldness
- 2
- Energy
- 5
- Curiosity
- 5
- Devotion
- 4
- Roaming
- 2
- A hedgehog can walk one or two kilometers in a single night's foraging.
- Hoglets are born with their spines just under the skin; the first ones push through within hours of birth.
- Hedgehogs have unusual resistance to adder venom and are among the few small mammals that will take on an adder.
Hedgehogs in literature
- Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle — The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Beatrix Potter (1905)
- The Hedgehog — Grimm's Fairy Tales (The Hare and the Hedgehog), Brothers Grimm (1843)
- The Hedgehog — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (the croquet ground), Lewis Carroll (1865)
Characters from public-domain works. Company, not a verdict.
Closest personalities
The animals whose profiles sit nearest to the Hedgehog's. If you got Hedgehog, one of these was probably your runner-up.
Other mammals
WolfRed FoxBrown BearPolar BearLionTigerLeopardCheetahElephantGiraffeHippopotamusGorillaOrangutanSlothKoalaKangarooPlatypusOtterBeaverBadgerRaccoonBatCamelDolphinSperm Whale
Among the 60
Brehm's Life of Animals, Alfred Brehm (1895). Public domain, viacommons.wikimedia.org.All credits
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