M.O.M Rating: XXX
This is a small burrowing animal that is strongly attracted to anything shiny. They are gentle in nature, but can cause a good deal of destruction in the pursuit of glittery objects. Nifflers are often used by Goblins to dig for treasure, as their burrowing abilities are exceptional [FB].
Hagrid once gave a Care of Magical Creatures lesson on Nifflers, where the students learnt about their nature, including their tendency to leap on anyone wearing jewellery to try to bite it off [GOF28]. Later on, Lee Jordan (perhaps using the knowledge gained from Hagrid's lesson) put a couple of Nifflers in Umbridge's office to annoy her. This it certainly did: they trashed the room and then attacked her for her rings [OOTP31].
The Niffler is an invention of JKR.
