Hedgehog Facts

Fact: 9/10 hedgehogs believe everything was cooler in the 80s.

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So happy you’re back!

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Fact: there’s a new hedgehog-princess-related story which will surely amuse and delight any brave enough to read it in which Her Highness tries being a Viking, fails to enjoy life as a squirrel, and wears numerous hats, among many other things. There are also many delightful photos which we hope you enjoy!

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Additional fact: after a hiatus due to general sadness at the loss of Penelope, we’ll be trying to maintain the story/blog post output a bit more.

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Just subscribed!

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Fact: The Hedgehog Scare of the 50s was a very strange time.

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Fact: The hedgehog scare was really very strange.


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Fact: It’s amazing how much of this Hedgehog Peril material those people pumped out so quickly, way back then.

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I want the Hedgehog Madness poster on a t-shirt, stat!

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Oh that’s a good idea. I wanted to redo some of it so I have a better reason now besides perfectionism.

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Give me one of those “hooked” T’s as well. I’ll pay good American cash money for that.

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“Assassin of Feet” Hedgehog Scare propaganda poster (1937), an early example of the genre.

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Fact, The Quilly Peril: Global Menace may be part of the reason hedgehogs are still banned as pets in CA and probably some other states also.

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I think of hedgehogs (now) as cute, polite, little princesses followed around by small subservient monkeys.

But, in the wild, do they use their quills to defend themselves? Might they hurt a person who was mistreating them, or even accidentally? Or do they just ball up and wait it out?

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Wild hedgies mostly hide out in burrows during the day, but if they feel threatened they quickly quill up into full balls you would definitely not want to touch. When they’re relaxed, the muscles on the mantle their quills are attached to are relaxed and it’s not an issue, but when they’re quilling, they cross-brace the quills against each other at an angle so they’re stiff, pointing out, and the tips are needle sharp. They also hiss when they quill up and if whatever’s bothering them doesn’t leave, they do a popping move that makes the jumping needle-ball extra scary/painful to be near. So if they quill up, they’re <edit> not </edit> going to kill anyone, but they can draw blood if you’re really careless.

Happily, Her Highness is acclimated to people, so she doesn’t really quill often, and if she does, you can scoop under her (carefully), and rock her a bit and blow towards her nose so she gets your smell and she’ll relax. Perdita’s never gone into a full ball, though Penelope did.

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Thanks! I wasn’t ever going to be mean to one anyway, but now I know more. I didn’t realize the quills were so sharp. Maybe someday I’ll get to meet a hedgie in person. For now I’ll settle for following Her Highness on twitter.

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I think you might want to insert a “not” in that sentence!

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Thanks - I’ve fixed it. I started to wonder if there has ever been a human death caused by a hedgehog. Hard to find anything, but apparently some hedgies can transfer Salmonella, and there’s at least one case of someone dying from it, so the Quilly Peril is real.

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