Petit the Hedgehog
Petit is an African pygmy hedgehog living in the MIT Media Lab office E14-333B. He is the mascot of the Opera of the Future group. He loves to snuggle, play with his pouch, eat mealworms, hide in pockets, and get back scratches! He is very good at finding dark places and climbing up people’s pants. He is a very sociable hedgehog and got used very young to being held and pet by all his friends at the Media Lab. He loves to help with projects, give demos, and proofread people’s thesis! He has his own Instagram account!
He also likes to get visits from all his friends from French House!
Petit has starred in several project videos and is an excellent actor, though sometimes hard to direct. His filmography includes project video for 2.008-2017 team hedgehog and a video for a connected door project which won the Bill Michel design award 2017.
After a long walk outside MIT medical or in front of building 10, he likes to sing his happy song. Like all hedgehogs, he has pretty bad eyesight but is very good at running at his parents and friends from huffing their smell in the air! He loves to come to cheer for the Shadow Masks, the Media Lab Softball team on Mondays, and snuggle inside basketball gloves.
He likes to play with all the other animals on campus and is not fearful at all! Bunnies, squirrels, birds, even dogs, and cats! When playing with him outside, make sure to check for halks and rat trap because if he finds a hole on the ground or on a walk, he would just hide right in there! His favorite playgroup is the green circle between E15 and E17. If you walk around there at lunchtime or in the afternoon, you can often see him walking along the small walls or climbing the staircase and playing with fallen leaves! He is very curious, and if you are sitting in the grass reading a book or talking with a friend, he would just run right at you and explore the content of your bag pack! If you need some pet therapy or just want to say hi, feel free to message him!