Meet one of the smallest mammals at the Folsom Children’s Zoo! This petite creature is called a Tenrec. Tenrecs weigh 6-7 ounces and can be from 3½ to 7 inches long. They are about the size of a ten year olds’ fist! And when a tenrec is threatened it curls up in a ball just like a fist. Only this ball is covered with sharp quills. When a tenrec is relaxed and at ease the quills are softer and not as prickly.

Tenrecs are insectivores, this means they eat insects. They especially love to munch on crickets and mealworms. At the zoo they are fed a mixture of banana, cottage cheese, canned cat food, and egg yolk as well as mealworms and crickets.

In habits and appearance tenrecs resemble hedgehogs but they are actually quite different.

Here are a few similarities and differences:

The majority of the tenrecs at the zoo are all related. The parents, Ricky and Lucy, were loaned to us in 1997 from the Bronx Zoo in New York. They have had two litters. The first litter contained three tenrecs – all were sent back to the Bronx. The next litter contained seven babies who are all part of the Our Zoo to YOU program visiting schools this year. Tenrecs can have lots of offspring in one litter – one zoo had a pair that had 32 babies at one time! That’s a lot of tenrecs!

You will have an opportunity to meet this family at Critter Encounter this summer.