The inspirations behind the creation of some of our favorite cartoon characters are fascinating. If you are a Pokémon fan, you might have wondered which animal exactly inspired Pikachu. There is a popular opinion that Pikachu is a chinchilla in real life, but is this true?

The short answer is no. Pikachu’s real-life archetype is not a Chinchilla. Although it can be quite convenient to conclude otherwise given that the Chinchilla is a rodent, the animal has different living habits and a chubbier physique that make it no match for the cartoon character.

But don’t just take my word for it. Atsuko Nishida, the Pikachu developer who previously worked at Game Freak, opened up about the real animal on which the iconic cartoon character is based on in an interview with a local platform, Yomiuri.

We are going to look at this information in the rest of this post and also explore the features of Pikachu and how it matches with the animal that Nishida has revealed.

So What Animal Is Pikachu In Real Life?

Pikachu has the orientation of a rodent creature, which is why many people think it is based on a chinchilla. But that is quite incorrect.

While there is a precise, official source on what real-life animal Pikachu is based on, the developer, Nishida, revealed that she developed a fascination with squirrels while developing the original design concepts for Pikachu for its first appearance in “Pocket Monsters Red” and “Pocket Monsters Green” video games.

The official reference to what animal Pikachu is based on revolves only around the title “Mouse Pokémon,”  which is not enough for a cue because there are contradictions in the character’s visuals and behavior.

The best way to answer this question is to examine the cartoon’s visual elements and behavior and compare it to a variety of real-life animals.

Analyzing The Features Of Pikachu To Match A Real-life Animal

As you know already, Pikachu is a species of Pokémon and has been described as a “mouse Pokémon” or “electric mouse” over the years. But that doesn’t necessarily denote that it’s based on a mouse. The argument also  stretches towards squirrels and chinchillas.

So let’s look at the features that the Pikachu has in common with these animals to determine what animal it is actually based on in real life:

At a glance, it would seem as though Pikachu was developed with a mixture of mouse and squirrel features, including characters that overlap between the two.

While the species has been officially referred to as a mouse and never as a squirrel, several sources point out that the developers admit that the cartoon character was primarily inspired by a squirrel.

Why Is Pikachu A Squirrel?

I have strong reasons to believe that the original designs for the Pikachu character in Pokémon Red and Green are based on a squirrel and not a mouse. In Atsuko Nishida’s words, “At that time, I was really into squirrels, so I wanted the character to have puffy cheeks.”

The graphic and character designer also averred that she created the original designs of Pikachu in Pokémon Red and Green to be based on a squirrel, not a mouse. According to her, “Squirrel tails are cute, so I wanted it to have a tail.” However, I wanted the character to have a lightning element, so I made it shaped like lightning.”

Even the electricity feature on Pikachu’s cheeks was inspired by a squirrel. In the interview, she explains that when squirrels stuff themselves with food, their cheeks turn round not their entire body as seen in hamsters.

The Bottom Line

The debate over which animal Pikachu’s archetype is may never end, especially among game and anime fans. While the mouse is the most well-known archetype, there are compelling reasons to believe that it was inspired by squirrels—Japan’s game break has already revealed that Pikachu’s prototype is a squirrel.

So for those who are wondering whether Pikachu is a chinchilla, there you have it.

But the species are rodents, which makes it easy to believe that a chinchilla is an archetype of Pikachu, but that is not the case. As opposed to the visual features and lifestyle of Pikachu, chinchillas are chubbier and have different living habits.

And then there is the opinion that they could resemble rabbits. Well, the only feature that can tie a relationship between the cartoon character and a rabbit is the long ears. Apart from that, Pikachu looks absolutely nothing alike with Rabbits. (Meanwhile, there are rabbit Pokemon such as Lopunny and Buneary)

Still, Pikachu isn’t based on a chinchilla, mouse, rabbit, or cat. But squirrels? Yes, there are enough reasons to believe so.

What do you think about squirrels being the archetype of the famous Pikachu? What features of the iconic cartoon character made this information seem rather shocking? I’ll be in the comments.