Who would have imagined that Knuckles the Echidna, a Sega video game character, could bring together a publisher from Connecticut, an animal keeper at the Philadelphia Zoo and a wildlife researcher in Australia? When Hugh Levin called the Philadelphia Zoo in 1995 to ask if his four-year old son Lucas, an avid Knuckles fan, could go behind the scenes to meet a real echidna, it was a phone call that launched an incredible journey.

Todd Sinander, lead keeper at the Philadelphia Zoo's Small Mammal House, remembers his first meeting with Hugh Levin, "Hugh called the Zoo on my day off to ask if he and his son could tour the echidna exhibit and meet the echidna keeper. When I returned to work, I received a message that they would be arriving at the Zoo in about 30 minutes." Fortunately, Todd's fascination with echidnas is second only to his keenness to talk about them at any given moment. When they arrived, Todd gave Hugh and his son Lucas the red carpet treatment. He showed them the exhibit and explained his plans to enhance it in order to improve echidna husbandry at the Zoo. Todd also shared his interest in echidna reproductive behavior and his recent discovery of an egg in the pouch of the female, which he compared to the excitement of finding a pearl in an oyster. "You search and search. Finally, you open one up, and there it is!" Hugh could only respond by saying, "Congratulations," and "Wouldn't it be nice if you could go to Australia to study echidnas in the wild?"

One month later Todd's boss received a letter from Hugh stating that he wanted to sponsor Todd on a trip to Australia and donate funds to renovate the Zoo's echidna exhibit. Just three months later, Todd was in Australia on an echidna fact-finding mission. He visited five zoos and spent two weeks in the field with wildlife researcher Dr. Peggy Rismiller on an Earthwatch trip to the Pelican Lagoon Research Centre on Kangaroo Island.

Two years later, Hugh took his son Lucas on an Earthwatch trip to Kangaroo Island. They too had the opportunity to meet and work with Dr. Rismiller. The experience inspired Hugh to publish Dr. Rismiller's first book, The Echidna: Australia's Enigma.

Almost ten years later, Todd Sinander has developed significant expertise in managing captive echidna reproduction; the Zoo's conservation department continues to support Dr. Rismiller's research on Kangaroo Island, and Hugh Levin's company, Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., still publishes nationally recognized books. While Lucas has outgrown most of his Sega video games, the impact of his childhood fascination with Knuckles the Echidna has been far-reaching and affected many lives.