‘Meet Paddington, the 300g African pygmy hedgehog. The most bizarre experience was hearing the frustrated hedgehog make a noise as if he was clearing his nose’ All photographs: David Yeo. Engineered by Nature is at the Leica Studio Mayfair, London, until 3 November

‘The Indian star tortoise has been engineered to be small by nature: it has shrunk down over many generations from much larger ancestors. My patience in waiting for the tortoises to come out of their shells paid off, and I was surprised how easy it was to photograph them. I like how the texture of their front legs and heads morph into those of the walnuts’

‘This miniature Hereford bull was shot at the Chater Valley Farm in Rutland, with his mother moaning from the other side of the barn throughout the shoot’

‘Duprasi Gerbils will “ball” when they feel threatened, and it took a while to earn this one’s trust. Eventually he became relaxed enough to hold his position – even managing a wink’

‘This Southdown Babydoll sheep was shot on the Poulton Hill Estate winery where, because of their diminutive stature and friendly nature, they are used to graze the vineyards without damaging the vines. Even next to a small bonsai tree, the sheep looked small. The only moment when it remained still was when it had a massive pee.’

‘The most difficult aspect of this shoot was to get each African pygmy dormouse – also known as micro squirrels – on to a separate camera. Once in place, they needed to remain still long enough to get them both in the frame and looking at me. Often solitary, they naturally wanted to move away’

‘We used a hot-water bottle inside the bowler hat so the pigs didn’t get cold, and it worked to elevate them too. These miniature Vietnamese pigs are a product of selective breeding for the medical research industry’