My last post was not very cheerful, sorry. So - I am going to make it up to you now! With THREE stories in one post - all of which will, I hope, fill you with some sort of joy at the very least!
Please read this HERE to get benefit of being able to comment, and see more photos.
About a month ago I got a strange email. That is not very unusual but this one was a little stranger than most. It was supposedly written by a 9 year old called Nathaniel, from Texas. And I was perplexed. It seemed like the most amazingly sophisticated AI driven phishing expedition ever!
In fact - here is a bit of the message:
My school is doing a living museum research project where students dress up as a famous person and give a short presentation on the person they have researched. I chose you as my research subject because I like hedgehogs and I have been interested in hedgehog conservation since I learned it was a real job when I was in preschool. (I even dressed up as a hedgehog wildlife conservationist for career day in kindergarten!) I have tried finding information about you online, but I am having some trouble finding the biographical details I need. I need to get some facts about you, so my mom thought I should try writing you an email. She is helping me type this. :)
The questions I am trying to answer for my presentation are:
Where and when were you born?
Growing up, who was in your family?
Where did you go to school as a child?
What were your hobbies and interests in childhood?
Did you have any difficulties or struggles when you were a child?
Where have you lived in your adult life?
When and who did you marry, if you are/were married?
Do you have any children? (I know from your website you have 1 son who is a singer.)
Have you faced any obstacles or hardships as a hedgehog conservationist?
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
So - what do you think? A brilliant ruse to get all my password and security questions answered? Or is it real?
I shared it with some friends. Most thought it likely an AI generated attempt to get my personal information. But … I also hated the idea of dismissing the interest of a potentially real 9 year old who cares about hedgehogs!!
I replied - asking to be put on to the school. And then while waiting tracked down the school and wrote to the head mistress. Who responded in short order confirming that yes, indeed, Nathaniel was at the school and was doing a project to learn all about someone famous so that they could be a ‘living waxwork’!!
By this time, his mother had contacted me as well - so we arranged a Zoom - and I was just really happy that I had not discarded the first attempt!
Nathaniel was a sweetie, we talked for well over an hour (had to restart the Zoom meeting!) but I was not sure what would come of it all … until I got sent the photo! That is Nathaniel dressed up as me. And he gave a short presentation as ‘me’ to everyone who stopped and asked!
I am so thrilled to have been chosen - especially when he said that he had a second choice if I had not said yes … and that was Muhammad Ali!!!!
Interestingly, this is not the first time I have been selected … back in 2020, a young girl called Lila, also from the USA, got in touch - and did the same thing! I am not sure who I was up against when she made that decision!
I LOVE how the hedgehog has this capacity to pull people in to nature - it gives me hope.
Something else that offers hope - is research - and if I was 35 years younger, I would not be sharing with you what is about to appear … because I would have applied already and have done my best to keep it a secret. But I am too old for field work, and I have a role to help manage what is going on and to shout about it to the world.
Do you think you have the skills and determination to tackle the demands of a PhD looking into the costs and benefits of supplementary feeding hedgehogs? This is a subject I am asked about so often when giving talks, and about which I do not have a clear answer … so maybe one of you might be able to step in and solve the problem?
You can find out more HERE.
And finally - you may have seen the flurry of news about the shortlist for the animals that might appear on the new set of banknotes in the UK … well I just want to heavily hint that while there are many answers, there is only one correct answer for the animal that MUST appear on a note … and that is … do I really need to spell this out?
Let’s vote for the HEDGEHOG!!
And finally finally … a week today - 11th June - sees the launch of TWO new books from me - one on Hedgehogs and one on Bats! I am doing a launch event in Caper Books, East Oxford - if you are local and interested, drop me a note (through the Substack version).