Hedgehogs in culture
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This article discussions hedgehogs in culture, either popular or folk.
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[edit] Europe
As animals native to Europe, hedgehogs hold a rightful place in European folklore. Since the mammal didn't possess any "righteous" qualities, it never made it to the court art; however, its relationships with fairy tales has been a long and fruitful one.
In most European countries, hedgehogs are believed to be a hard-working no-nonsense animal. This partially results from a fact that hedgehogs are believed to be collecting apples and mushrooms and carrying them to their secret storage. It is unclear exactly how old this belief is. Therefore, hedgehogs are often portrayed carrying apples - partially, to make them look cuter.
Hedgehogs are often pictured as fond of milk, while in reality, they are lactose-intolerant.
They are also often seen in pictures with an autumn-themed background, since the animal hibernates in piles of leaves. This also adds to the cute reputation of hedgehogs.
During the 1970s and 1980s, hedgehogs were one of the poster animals for environment activists through Europe. A lot of hedgehogs were killed by traffic, and since the hedgehog already had an aura of a cute little friendly animal the choice was nearly perfect.
British author Terry Pratchett incorporates hedgehogs into several of his Discworld novels. One of the characters is known for singing a lewd song called "The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered At All".
[edit] United States
The common American holiday Groundhog Day originated in ancient Rome as Hedgehog Day and is still celebrated as such through much of the world. There are no native hedgehogs in America, so the early settlers chose the groundhog as a substitute.
Hedgehogs remain largely unseen in modern day American culture. On a number of occasions British educational programs have been revoiced to refer to hedgehogs as porcupines (at least one of such examples being Bob the Builder). The Wacky Wheels video game makes humorous use of hedgehogs as projectiles, and they are also seen reading the newspaper while sitting on the toilet in the middle of the race course.
[edit] Oceania
New Zealand's McGillicuddy Serious Party were unsuccessful in their attempt to get a hedgehog elected to Parliament.
Also in New Zealand, hedgehogs feature in the Bogor cartoon by Burton Silver, via which they also appeared on a postage stamp.
[edit] Technology
A hedgehog transformer is an early type of electrical transformer designed to work at audio frequencies (AF). They resemble hedgehogs in size, color and shape, and were used in the first part of the 20th Century. (See http://www.telephonecollecting.org/hedgehog.html)
[edit] Famous hedgehogs
There are many famous fictional hedgehogs such as Beatrix Potter's Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
One of the most prominent hedgehogs in recent popular culture is Sonic the Hedgehog from the video game series of the same name. The first Sonic game was created for Mega Drive. The series has since seen multiple incarnations on different console and handheld systems, four animated TV series, and a comic book that has been in production by Archie Comic Publications since 1993. Sonic shares almost no features with actual hedgehogs besides his penchant for rolling into a ball, and is even a brilliant blue color instead of a natural brown. As well as Sonic, the series of games feature several other hedgehogs - Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, and Silver the Hedgehog - all of whom are also anthropomorphic and are brilliantly coloured, like Sonic.
Jan Brett has featured a hedgehog as the main character in many of her books, including The Mitten and Hedgie's Surprise.
In a 1970 episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, there was a fake news profile of a crimelord named Dinsdale Piranha, a notorious criminal known for nailing people's heads to floors. Piranha believed a giant invisible hedgehog named Spiny Norman was following him everywhere, and when he came to believe Spiny Norman was hiding out in an aeroplane hangar, he blew the hangar up with a nuclear bomb. During the closing credits of the show, Spiny Norman is seen stalking London and shouting "Dinsdale!" A link to the script can be found here.
Hedgehogs are common characters in Brian Jacques's book series, Redwall.
Ron Jeremy is commonly called "The Hedgehog" due to his appearance and his past ability to nearly roll into a ball.
In The Animals of Farthing Wood, Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog were a pair of hedgehogs famously killed on a motorway during the animals journey to White Deer Park.
