It's not a hedgehog, its a lowland streaked tenrec

Say hello to a pretty unusual creature.

This may look like a cross between a mouse and a hedgehog, but it's actually a lowland streaked tenrec.

Four of the little creatures have arrived at Chester Zoo. Check them out:

  • Tenrecs are related to elephants and aardvarks but not to their spiky lookalikes hedgehogs.

  • They mostly eat insects and usually forage alone.

  • They are found in some place in Africa but mostly in southern and southwestern areas of the island of Madagascar.

  • Tenrecs communicate in a variety of ways, such as smell, touch and sound.

  • The lowland streaked tenrec communicates using something called stridulation, in which it rubs the quills on its back to make an super high-pitched noise.

  • Published