Espinete Espinete is the main Muppet from " Barrio Sésamo " , the Spanish co - production of " Sesame Street " . Espinete appeared on the show from 1983 to 1987 . A big , human - sized muppet , Espinete is a pink hedgehog ( in Spanish , " erizo " is the word for hedgehog , and " espina " is the word for quill or spine ) . Espinete ' s gender has been open to debate for some time , specially after the end of his appearance in the series . Although Espinete is played by an actress , Espinete has a male name ( hypotetical female version would be " Espineta " ) and is always refered to using male pronoums ( example , in his song " " Espinete , Espinete , el amigo de los niños " " - hypotetical female version would be " " . . . la amiga de los niños " " ) . Another character , Don Pimpón , said once that Espinete is " just a ( small ) boy " ( In Spanish " sólo un niño " , which could also be arguably translated as " just a child . " ) Espinete does not wear clothes during the day . However , he wears pajamas when going to sleep ( including a nightcap ) , and he also has used disguises ( including a wizard , Dracula and a superhero called Super Espi ) . Initially , Espinete lived in a forest with other hedgehogs . He then moved to Barrio Sésamo , where he wanted to live " under a tree " . Human adults in Barrio Sésamo tried to convince him to live in a normal house , but the children disagreed . Finally , it was decided that Espinete would live in a garage , owned by one of the adults but not used , which was adapted into a room . From his behavior , it must be understood that Espinete is a child . He is friends with most , if not all , of the characters in the Barrio , including references to " his friends Epi and Blas " ( Ernie and Bert ) , although Espinete does not appear with them in any sketches . He does not have a single " father figure " , but many of them in the form of all of the adults in the Barrio ( particularly Chema the baker , who has no children of his own ; and monster Don Pimpón ) . Espinete does not have a regular source of income . However , he does eat and drink . This has not been justified , but is similar to other muppets living with humans , such as Big Bird . Sometimes , Espinete seems to be just as childlike as other children in the Barrio . Sometimes , however , he does show a greater degree of knowledge : for example , he is familiar with the concept of a password while other children , and even adults , are not . One of Espinete ' s most popular songs was " Un erizo como yo " ( " A hedgehog like me " ) . Behind the Scenes . Espinete was performed by actress Chelo Vivares , who was married to actor Juan Sánchez ( Chema the baker ) . They were married until Sánchez ' s death in 2008 . Espinete was bigger than a human , and his mouth must be operated using Chelo Vivares ' s hand , as a hand puppet , similar to Big Bird . Thus , Vivares had only one arm available . Using a string , Vivares ' movements with one arm were followed by a similar but opposite movement of Espinete ' s other arm ( If Vivares moved her left arm towards the front , the right arm moved towards the back ) . Don Pimpón was operated similarly . In some of the episodes Espinete had closed his eyes while thinking , playing and sleeping . He has also moveble eyebrows . Espinete is clearly similar to his counterpart from Israeli " Rechov Sumsum " , Kippi Ben Kippod . Kippi Ben Kippod was another human - sized , pink hedgehog who first appeared in 1982 and returned for 1987 . The main difference between them was that Kippi Ben Kippod favored clothing while Espinete did not . In " " and " The Sesame Street Experiment " , Espinete is identified as a porcupine . Espinete ( Vivares ) has appeared in theatre versions of " Barrio Sésamo " that were performed after 1987 alongside Sánchez as Chema and another actor from the series , José Riesgo as Julián . One of Espinete ' s songs , " Espinete , Espinete , el amigo de los niños " ( " Espinete , Espinete , the friend of children " ) was performed by a beggar boy in drunken stupor in the movie " Makinavaja , el último choriso " ( 1992 ) . Gallery . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _