A Moscow cafe is offering more than just coffee, as visitors get the chance to play with adorable African hedgehogs whilst enjoying a hot beverage.
For a fee of 360 rubles ($6) on weekdays and 480 rubles on holidays ($8), visitors can spend an hour with petting the spiky creatures.
Each animal gets three days off a week, said Maria Nesterkina, a hedgehog expert who is working at the cafe.
There are strict rules for visitors keen to pet the hedgehogs, "you should not be loud and hold them carefully, in the right position. Hedgehogs have a very sensitive forehead... we ask people to pet them from the ears and ask them to make sure the hedgehogs do not leave the boxes," Nesterkina said.
The hedgehog cafe is not the only option for animal lovers in Moscow. Cat, rabbit, owl, raccoon, and even snake and spider cafes are open to the public.
In 2020, Russia will establish a new law which will ban any petting zoos or cafes not found to be offering sufficient animal welfare.
