Sonic the Hedgehog Oddities

Posted by  | Wednesday, June 22, 2011


Sonic in the Flesh

Despite Sonic’s popularity in the US, few Americans have seen an actual hedgehog. That’s mostly because the small, spiny creatures are not native to North America.

And though Sonic hails from Japan, no hedgehog species is native to Japan either.

The spiny fellow pictured here is a domesticated African Pygmy Hedgehog, which is a hybrid of several species found in the wild. This common hedgehog variety may have been what Sonic’s designers had in mind when they thought “hedgehog,” because it’s a popular pet breed in Japan.

(Photo: simple tess)



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3 Comments For This Post

  1. Max Says:

    You cant go wrong with an article about sega that includes reference to Steve Urkel 🙂

  2. guest Says:

    This trivia is very cool. But have many people actually played the original Sonic recently? Give it a try and then read this and see if you don't agree: http://tevisthompson.com/sonic-and-tension/

  3. Esteban Says:

    My favorite bit of Sonic weirdness? The Sonic / Harry Potter / Barack Obama backpack:
    http://www.bestweekever.tv/2010-02-04/sonic-harry