Page 20 - Present Day Wildlife_Float

Badgers (order Carnivora) are small furry omnivorous burrowing mammals found in sev-
eral genera in the weasel family Mustelidae*. They are found across the globe, but only in certain
countries and regions and are often named to reflect that location such as, the American badger
(Taxidea taxus), Eurasian badger (Meles meles), Asian badger (Meles leucurus) and Japanese badg-
er (Meles anakuma). Most of the ferret badgers’, in
the genus Melogale, names reflect their location,
such as, Burmese, Bornean or Vietnam ferret badger.
Of the fifteen known species the European badger is
the largest measuring around 30 cm tall, 56 to 81 cm
in length, and weighs about 8 to 10 kg, while the fer-
ret badgers are often cited as the smallest with a
body length averaging 44cm and weighing around
3kg

The Badgers body is stocky and broad, with
short powerful legs armed with long clawed toes for
digging and burrowing. Their tails can vary from
very short, to the long tail of the Ferret-badger that
can measure around 50.8 cm when fully grown. They
have a long ferret-like head with short ears and due
Javan ferret-badger to the make-up of their jaw bones they have a very
*Family Mustelidae Chinese ferret-badger
Formosan ferret- powerful bite. In adulthood badgers (except the hon-
Subfamily Melinae badger ey badger) have a very distinctive body colouring
Genus Arctonyx Bornean ferret-badger with their face being striped black and white and
Northern hog badger Vietnam ferret-badger their furry body’s’ light or dark grey.
Greater hog badger Subfami-
Sumatran hog badger ly Mellivorinae Badgers are territorial and prefer to live in low
Genus Meles Honey badger lying areas like grasslands or forest floors, where
Japanese badger Subfamily Taxidiinae: they burrow out their underground home, known as
Asian badger American badger a Sett. These Setts can be huge, comprising of a long
European badger Family Mephitidae underground network of tunnels connecting multiple
Caucasian badger Skink Badgers-like living chambers, and can have several entry points.
Subfamily Helictidinae Subfamily Mydainae
Genus Melogale Genus Mydaus They are also known to construct smaller setts scat-
Burmese ferret-badger Sunda stink badger tered across their territory, and use these as resting
Palawan stink badger places or in an emergency. However, it’s the main set
that serves as their home and this is usually passed
on to successive generations. Some badger Setts can be in use for over a hundred
years. They are also known to dig out shallow holes across their territory and use
them as latrines. These latrines are believed to be use by the badger as territorial
markers to ward off any interlopers.

Although badgers have a taste for many types of plants, roots, and soft fruits,
they tend to eat an enormous amount of earthworms; even slugs and snails. They
also eat larger prey, like small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds and are
known, at times, to raid chicken coops and eat the chickens. However, across the fifteen species differ-
ent badgers have different preferences. The African honey badger, for instance, will climb trees to raid
a bee’s nest for the honey, while the American Badger has a taste for rattlesnakes, and is looked upon
favourably as controlling the population of that particular snake. The European badger, on the other
hand, seems to prefer hedgehogs. If a badger moves into an area the hedgehog population soon disap-
pears. In the UK, where the hedgehogs are listed as being under threat, conservationists will never re-
lease a hedgehog back into the wild anywhere near an area with badgers in it.

Badgers are nocturnal and are primarily night prowlers, they are also a very aggressive species,
this combination means they have few predators; nevertheless many large carnivorous predators do
prey on badgers. Of course, what animals prey on the badger will depend on the badger’s location. In
Europe, Grey wolves, Eurasian lynxes and brown bears are likely candidates, while in America you
could have golden eagles, coyotes, bobcats and cougars. Other countries and regions will have their
own selection of badger preying predators. However, due to their nature and lifestyle, many believe
large predators pose little or no threat to the badger.