ORANGE — When Sara Roth was told her family was buying a tenrec, she took straight to Google.
“And I said, ‘Why? It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen,’” she recalls. “And then I saw him and said, ‘Oh, just kidding. He’s adorable.’”
Roth was referring to Kiwi, the tenrec Roth brought to the Wheeler Public Library in Orange for an animal show presented by her family’s Littleton-based company, The Creature Teachers, on Thursday afternoon. Kiwi was one of seven animals accompanying Roth for a show in front of roughly 35 children and their guardians in the library’s program room.
Roth has brought along Bob the snake, Kevin the 40-year-old tortoise, Stones the green iguana, Frank the baby alligator, Slinky the ferret, Dug the armadillo and Maximus the Flemish giant rabbit.
Kiwi resembles a hedgehog and Roth shocked audience members by telling them that tenrecs, despite their puny size, are closely related to elephants. Kiwi’s skin is covered in spiky bristles that feel like uncooked rice standing on end. Roth said tenrecs bear the most babies — many as 35 at one time — than any other mammal. She said that would be like one woman giving birth to all the children in the program, a thought that seemed to send shivers down the spine of everyone present.
Bob the snake spent some time slithering around Roth’s torso and Roth explained Bob is a constrictor, meaning he squeezes its food to death before eating it.
“That’s cool,” he said after Bob was taken out of his carrier.
Roth eventually brought out Frank the baby alligator, with his leather-like skin, and explained alligators have short, U-shaped snouts while crocodiles have longer, V-shaped snouts. Roth also said alligators can live to be 75 to 80 years old.
Children’s librarian Jason Sullivan-Flynn said he contacted The Creature Teachers after doing research on performers that specialize in animal shows. He said this was the first animal show at Wheeler since he started working there in January 2016.
“Kids get very, very excited about animals. And their energy is infectious,” he said. “It takes a very skilled presenter to handle that sort of energy. … I think it went very well.”
Roth explained her father, Richard Roth, started The Creature Teachers 12 years ago. According to the company’s website, it is a family-owned live animal business specializing in environmental and animal education. The Creature Teachers make paid appearances at birthday parties, corporate functions, fairs and other events.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 258.