{"id":84210,"date":"2026-04-07T14:08:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=84210"},"modified":"2026-04-10T11:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:24:12","slug":"madras-hedgehog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/madras-hedgehog\/","title":{"rendered":"Madras Hedgehog"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Madras Hedgehog Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of the Madras hedgehog (Paraechinus nudiventris) has helped shed some more valuable insight into the evolutionary history of the enigmatic species.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Madras Hedgehog<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Madras Hedgehog, locally known as Mulleli is a tiny mammal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also known as the <\/span><b>bare-bellied hedgehog, discovered in 1851.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Habitat:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The species prefers <\/span><b>dry scrublands, thorn forests, grasslands<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the edges of farmlands.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Distribution: It<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is found only in <\/span><b>peninsular India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, primarily across <\/span><b>Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Karnataka.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Features<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has <\/span><b>sharp spines on its back<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and soft white fur on its belly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its spines offer protection from predators such as foxes, jackals and mongooses.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>nocturnal species curls into a ball to<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> protect itself from danger.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has mastered survival in some of the <\/span><b>harshest and driest landscapes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Life Span:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It has a short lifespan of <\/span><b>five to six years.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Diet:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It feeds on <\/span><b>insects such as beetles, ants, earthworms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and termites, apart from plants.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Conservation Status:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> IUCN: Least Concern<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Ecological Role<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It controls <\/span><b>insect populations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and aerates soil.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It supports the delicate web of life in India\u2019s dry ecosystems.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Threats:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Its population declined largely due to hunting driven by mythical beliefs that its quills and meat have medicinal value.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/first-complete-mitochondrial-genome-analysis-of-madras-hedgehog-sheds-new-light-on-the-enigmatic-species\/article70829163.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madras Hedgehog is found only in peninsular India, primarily across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Karnataka. Read more about Madras Hedgehog, Habitat, Distribution, Threats, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":84406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4952,246,3815,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-84210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-madras-hedgehog","9":"tag-prelims-current-affairs","10":"tag-prelims-pointer","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84210"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97057,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84210\/revisions\/97057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}