{"id":354894,"date":"2026-01-29T16:58:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=354894"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:28:24","slug":"madras-hedgehog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/madras-hedgehog\/","title":{"rendered":"Madras Hedgehog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>News:<\/strong> For the first time, the Tamil Nadu forest department has begun a study on Madras Hedgehog at the Theri forests.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\">About Madras Hedgehog<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 491px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gumlet.assettype.com\/downtoearth%2F2026-01-06%2Fk5yto5cu%2F37-1.jpg?resize=491%2C278&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Madras Hedgehog\" width=\"491\" height=\"278\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: DTE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">The Madras hedgehog is a <strong>small-sized insectivorous mammal.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">It is also called the<strong> bare-bellied hedgehog or South Indian hedgehog.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Scientific name:<\/strong> Paraechinus nudiventrus<\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat:<\/strong> It lives in <strong>arid and semi-arid habitats<\/strong> such as grasslands, open shrublands, thorn forests, and dry deciduous forests.\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">It prefers<strong> open natural ecosystems and avoids dense forests.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> It is <strong>endemic<\/strong> to <strong>southern India<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">It is <strong>found only<\/strong> in <strong>Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Physical Features:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Appearance:<\/strong> Its body is<strong> covered with sharp spines<\/strong> except on the face, legs, and underbelly. It has soft white fur on its belly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Defence:<\/strong> When threatened, it <strong>rolls itself into a tight ball for protection.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It has a <strong>pig-like snout<\/strong> which helps it in searching for food in the soil.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Length:<\/strong> 14\u201325 cm with a short tail of 1\u20133 cm.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weight:<\/strong> 130-315 grams<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lifespan:<\/strong> Five to six years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Nature:<\/strong> It is a <strong>nocturnal animal<\/strong> and remains active mostly during the night.\n<ul>\n<li>It has a<strong> limited home range of about two to three kilometres<\/strong> and completes its life cycle within this area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Diet:<\/strong> It is an <strong>omnivore<\/strong> and mainly feeds on insects and soil invertebrates.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Ecological role:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It plays an important role in <strong>maintaining ecological balance<\/strong> as both a predator and prey species.<\/li>\n<li>It can eat up to forty insects in an hour and<strong> helps farmers by controlling pest populations.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is considered an <strong>ecological indicator because its population reflects the health of the environment.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Threat<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">Habitat loss from agriculture, plantations and wind or solar infrastructure<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">Poaching<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">Road mortality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Conservation status<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>IUCN<\/strong> Red List: <strong>Least Concern<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: For the first time, the Tamil Nadu forest department has begun a study on Madras Hedgehog at the Theri forests. About Madras Hedgehog The Madras hedgehog is a small-sized insectivorous mammal. It is also called the bare-bellied hedgehog or South Indian hedgehog. Scientific name: Paraechinus nudiventrus Habitat: It lives in arid and semi-arid habitats&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/madras-hedgehog\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Madras Hedgehog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,12039,11834],"tags":[11872,10504],"class_list":["post-354894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-down-to-earth","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}