Hedgehogs of dry regions diverge from the familiar European pattern. The long-eared hedgehog has relatively long legs, a lighter build and a shorter, thinner spine covering, and it will typically flee rather than adopt the classic defensive ball. When it does defend itself it may jump and butt with the spines on its forehead instead of enclosing itself.
The ears are the animal's most obvious feature and serve thermoregulation. Large, thinly furred, well-vascularised ears shed body heat to the air, the same principle that gives desert foxes and jackrabbits outsized ears. In an environment where evaporative cooling is expensive, radiating heat from an appendage is efficient.
A common error is to treat all hedgehogs as slow rollers. Rolling is a defence for animals dense with spines and short-legged; the desert species trade some of that armour for mobility. What is not well documented is how long-eared hedgehogs regulate water balance across the hottest parts of their range, since detailed field physiology is scarce.