Lowland Streaked Tenrec

When an individual is aggravated a defense response is produced by erecting its quills laterally and forward which produces sound when the quills vibrate.[4][3] H. semispinosus has a highly developed sense of smell and this response along with foot stamping is also produced when the odor of a predator is detected.[4][12] This display additionally occurs when males fight for females and when unfamiliar males come across one another. Female encounters however, have tactile contact and then increase the distance between each other.[4] It uses its quills to communicate in two different ways, by raising them in agitation or by rubbing them together in a method known as stridulation – best known as the type noise produced by crickets and cicadas. The sound produced is too high to be perceived by human ears.[12]