--- title: Azuki the Hedgehog Is a Cute Viral Sensation description: Azuki the hedgehog has a popular Instagram, thanks to these elaborate — and adorable — photo shoots. canonical: https://time.com/4987306/camping-hedgehog/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-18T15:24:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:05.685Z og:title: The Internet's New Best Friend Is an Adventurous Hedgehog og:description: The photogenic creature enjoys camping and capturing the perfect Instagram og:url: https://time.com/4987306/camping-hedgehog/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet's New Best Friend Is an Adventurous Hedgehog twitter:description: The photogenic creature enjoys camping and capturing the perfect Instagram twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Internet's New Best Friend Is a Hedgehog Who Loves to Camp > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 18, 2017 3:24 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 18, 2017 3:24 PM UTC Meet Azuki, the pygmy [hedgehog](http://time.com/4285123/hedgehog-cafe/) in Japan who has captured the hearts, eyes and social media likes of thousands of fans, thanks to his — and his owner’s — keen sense of outdoorsy aesthetics and penchant for relaxing yet adventurous photo shoot setups. On any given day, you can find photos of Azuki posted up in a mini-sized wilderness setting, building a fire, hanging in a hedgehog-appropriate tent or grilling some snacks. When indoors, Azuki might be [playing Disney dress-up](https://www.instagram.com/p/BXB4YvVhlOn/?hl=en&taken-by=hedgehog%5Fazuki) or snuggling in some furry blankets. The rotund little hedgehog — who is smaller than a human hand, based on the pictures — seems to have quite a luxe life, assuming that he enjoys his modeling career. It doesn’t look too bad. While hedgehogs may not yet be a mainstream pet in the style of hamsters, guinea pigs or the ever-popular cat in the U.S., they’re already beloved enough mammals in Japan to merit [their own Tokyo cafe](http://time.com/4285123/hedgehog-cafe/) for visitors, which opened last year. Hedgehogs may be prickly, but they’re not porcupines — and pets like Azuki prove they can have some serious social media cred, too. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4987306/camping-hedgehog/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4987306/camping-hedgehog/"},"headline":"The Internet's New Best Friend Is a Hedgehog Who Loves to Camp","datePublished":"2017-10-18T15:24:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:05.685Z","description":"Azuki the hedgehog has a popular Instagram, thanks to these elaborate — and adorable — photo shoots.","url":"https://time.com/4987306/camping-hedgehog/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4987306/camping-hedgehog/","name":"The Internet's New Best Friend Is a Hedgehog Who Loves to Camp"}}]}] ```