The Eurasian badger is
about 3 feet (90 cm) long, with a 4 inch (10
cm) tail, and weighs about 30 pounds (13.6
kg). The male badger is usually a slight bit
larger than the female. The distinctive
trademark of the badger is the white head with black stripes along
each side of their face. Their ears are
rounded and they have small
white-tipped ears. From a distance they
appear to be gray in color, but actually they
have coarse black and white hairs over a
brownish yellow "underfur".
There is a small group of reddish
badgers endemic to Britain. The
face of the Eurasian badger is longer and
narrower than it's American cousin. The
Eurasian badger's body usually has a black
chest. The legs are short and powerful.
They have very long claws for burrowing.
They use the claws for burrowing both their
food and their homes, which are called setts.
They have been known to fill in another
burrowing preys exit hole, before attempting
to reach them through another entrance. Reproduction
 The
Eurasian badger usually has its young in
spring, usually January to March. The
average size of a litter is two to six furless
and blind young. At birth they measure
no more than 5 inches (12.7 cm), of which 1
inch (2.5 cm) is tail. They don't get vision
until about 9 weeks of age, but there isn't
much to see in a dark badger sett. In
large litters it is rare for more than two of
the young to survive. They live in
social groups or 4 to 12 badgers, but it is
rare for more than one female in the group to
breed during a season. Habits
Eurasian
badgers are social creatures, unlike their
American counterparts. Their setts are
underground homes that normally have several
entrances. Badger holes tend to be the
shape of a capital 'D', with the flat side
downwards, and are at least 20 cms (8 inches)
wide. Some setts are believed to be over
100 years old. Aside from their main
sett, they usually have several others in
their territory that are used temporarily
throughout the year. They prefer sloping
woodlands, where the drainage is good and the
ground is not too hard to dig.
The sett consists of large
chambers for sleeping and breeding and small
ones used as latrines, interlinked by a maze
of tunnels. One study found a well-established
sett in England with twelve entrances and it had tunnels
totaling 310 meters (1017 feet). It was
estimated that the badgers had excavated 25
tonnes (27.5 U.S. tons) of soil throughout the years to create
this complex. Tunnels can be four metres deep,
though most are less than one meter (39
inches) underground and often follow surface contours.
This helps with air circulation, while
ventilation holes sometimes connect a tunnel
to the surface.2 They also line their
setts with moss and grasses, which are renewed
often.
Eurasian badger group
territories may be as small as 37 acres or, in
moorland, as large as 3,700 acres. In large
ranges the boundaries are not defended, and
the badgers are non-territorial and roaming.
On the edges of a smaller, defended territory
the often conspicuous pathways are associated
with a relatively large number of badger
latrines, which consists of up to 50 small
pits, each up to 4 inches deep. An
average-sized latrine might cover an area of
20-55 sq ft (1.9 to 5.1 sq. m). Latrines at
territorial boundaries (usually near a
conspicuous landmark) are larger than those
near setts or elsewhere. Latrine use reaches a
peak between February and May, and to a lesser
extent in October and November. Arriving
at a latrine, a Eurasian badger may squat,
vigorously scratch the ground with its fore-
and hindlegs, dig fresh pits with its
forelegs, defecate and/or urinate. All these
activities are probably accompanied by scent
marking from the anal, subcaudal, digital and
possibly other glands. Badgers of both sexes
will also, particularly at the borders of
their territory, squat in a fast action to
deposit secretions from the sub-caudal gland
the odor of which identifies individuals.
Badgers may also mark by rubbing their anal
region at a height of 12-16 inches (30.5 to
40.6 cm) up a tree
or fencepost, while performing a handstand. 1
In Britain it is a crime
to kill badgers. Please visit the "Helping
Badgers" section of this site to
learn more about this.
Badgers are nocturnal
creatures, meaning they usually hunt and move
at night. Occasionally in hot weather,
they are known to come out in daylight to cool
off. They use their musk glands to leave
scents on the ground to find their way around,
mark their territory, as well as to identify
other groups of badgers (clans). Males
are known as boars and females as sows.
They are omnivores,
meaning that they eat just about everything,
including meat, roots, vegetables, fruits,
nuts, grains, insects, and even carrion (dead
animals). This wide variety of foods
insures their survival in various climates and
weather conditions.
Wild badgers average
lifespan is 5 to 8 years, although they have
been known to reach the age of 15 years
old. In captivity the oldest known one
lived 19 years and six months. They have
poor eyesight (non-color), but their excellent
sense of smell and hearing make up for it.
Tuberculosis
Some badgers are infected with bovine
tuberculosis (bTB). It is a case
of which came first, the chicken or the
egg. It has not been definitively proved
whether badgers get bTB from cows, or vice
versa. Less than 1% of cattle are
infected with this disease, but the media's
focus has prompted the British government to
use "culling" to reduce badger
populations.
You can visit the Ministry
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food web
site, to keep up with the British governments
position. You must use the sites search function to trace
articles about badgers and tuberculosis. Badger Problems
Badgers are increasingly having to adapt to
urban life, due to pressure on our
countryside. They may occasionally be a minor
nuisance by eating fruit or root vegetables,
or by making shallow pits in lawns when
searching for grubs or earthworms. Providing
badgers with an alternative food-supply will
minimize this damage, and they make
fascinating visitors.
Over 50 percent of wild badgers die in
their first year. If they survive the first
year, they may live for five or six years. The
most common cause of death is road accidents.
Other causes include baiting, disease,
starvation, fighting and old age. In captivity
badgers may live for ten or twelve years, but
are not recommended as pets. Injured or
orphaned badgers should be looked after at an
animal hospital and if possible released back
to the wild; if such an animal is
found advice should be sought from a local
badger group or the
RSPCA as expert knowledge is required.
The above problems provide some of the
issues badger group members become involved
in. Others include working to get tunnels
built under new roads, combined with stretches
of badger-proof fencing directing badgers away
from the road; relocating setts under extreme
circumstances and when a licence to do so has
been granted; and negotiating with and
advising property developers planning to build
in the vicinity of badgers. 2
RANGE
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