The Hedgehog's Dilemma

October 20, 2008
In this engaging mélange of memoir, history and cultural study, British environmental writer and photographer Warwick details his love affair with hedgehogs, the “unlikely sirens,” and his career as a “hedgehog advocate,” convinced that the animal has much to tell humans “about the way we live within what is left of the natural environment.” Along with descriptions of early hedgehog-inspired folk tales as well as the recent worldwide craze of hedgehog pet-keeping, Warwick provides wonderful insight into what the philosopher Schopenhauer called the “Hedgehog's Dilemma”—how can two of the spiky animals be close to each other without causing pain? Warwick describes how they overcome obvious obstacles to reproduction and skillfully extends the idea to explore the current state of human-animal interaction: “The dilemma we face is trying to get close enough to the wild without corrupting it out of existence.” Warwick shows how the hedgehog offers a unique insight into how humans can protect nature, since it is “the first and probably only wild animal that we urbanites and suburbanites have a chance of getting close to.”