Needles
Lesser tenrec
Echinops telfairi
Born:
2019
Madagascar
Native range:
My story:
Needles joined Wriggly Roadshow after a very special road trip to Germany, where I collected him directly from his breeder. Unlike many of our animals, Needles is not a rescue, but he has become one of the friendliest and most enthusiastic members of the Wriggly family.
Whenever his enclosure is opened, he walks straight to the glass door, ready to be picked up and placed in his carrier. He seems to genuinely enjoy coming out, exploring and meeting new people—especially when there are tasty insects involved! Worms and grubs are particular favourites.
Needles also fathers a new litter of babies each year. He is a surprisingly attentive dad, and I often discover the babies curled up beside him rather than their mum!
Did you know?
Needles might look like a tiny hedgehog, but he isn’t actually a hedgehog at all! Tenrecs belong to an ancient African group of mammals called the Afrotheria, which also includes elephants, aardvarks, hyraxes and manatees. Their spines evolved completely independently from those of true hedgehogs—an example of convergent evolution, where unrelated animals develop similar solutions to the same problem. Amazingly, Needles is more closely related to an elephant than he is to a hedgehog!