Chien Lee / Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec (Echinops telfairi) in defensive posture, Mangily, Madagascar

Cyril Ruoso / Tenrec (Echinops telfairi) walking across leaf litter, Berenty Reserve, Madagascar.

Stephen Dalton / Honeybee (Apis mellifera) flying to Globe thistle (Echinops), controlled conditions.

Pete Oxford / Small Madagascar hedgehog (Echinops telfari) curled up in a ball. Krindy Forest, Western Madagascar

Chien Lee / Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec (Echinops telfairi), Mangily, Madagascar

Nick Upton / Spiny globe thistle (Echinops spinossissimus) flowerhead in limestone mountains, near Kosmas, Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece, August.

Nick Upton / Spiny globe thistle (Echinops spinossissimus) flowering in limestone mountains, near Kosmas, Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece, August.

Fabrice Cahez / Blue hedgehog flower (Echinops ritro) Causse Mejean, France, July.

Nick Upton / Violet carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea) nectaring on a Spiny globe thistle (Echinops spinosissimus) flower, Crete, Greece, July.

Nick Upton / Spiny globe thistle (Echinops spinosissimus), Crete, Greece, July.

David Pattyn / Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro), dead in winter landscape with Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) silhouet behind, Gran Paradiso national park, Italian Alps, Italy, January

Fabrice Cahez / Southern globethistle (Echinops ritro) flower, Lozere, France, July.