THESE adorable arrivals at the Studley Grange Craft Village and Butterfly World are proving popular with visitors.

The farm park and zoo in Wroughton has just welcomed seven baby lesser tenrecs to the world.

Proud parents Timmy and Trixie look after Terrence and the rest of their yet-to-be-named young in a nocturnal enclosure in a tropical butterfly house.

Julia Stewart, one of the managers at Butterfly World, revealed some interesting facts about the cute Madagascan mammals.

She said: “They are more related to an elephant than a hedgehog, though they do curl up in a ball.

“There are 34 species of tenrec and this is the smallest one.

“These guys mimic hedgehogs but every tenrec species mimics another species of animal.

“Some look like otters, others look like moles.

“I’m not sure why , maybe on Madagascar they took it upon themselves to support the local ecosystem by developing into different species.

“Scientists don’t know a great deal about them but they are conducting research.

“These tenrecs live up in the trees and only come down to the ground to give birth and forage for bugs and fruit.”

The mummy and daddy tenrecs have been in the farm park for 18 months and have become a much-loved addition to its array of animals.

Julia added: “They were very young when we got them, tenrecs live up to 10 years and they were only a few months old.

“We get them out for handling sessions and kids love them.

“The youngsters always think they’re baby hedgehogs and are shocked when we tell them they aren’t.

“Lots of people haven’t heard of tenrecs, so it’s nice to be able to educate people about this species.”