Order – Carnivora. Family – Mustelidae. Sub-Family – Melinae. Genus – Meles. Species – Meles Meles.
The Badger is one of Britains’ oldest and largest wild animals and is thought to have been present for possibly 500,000 years. The badger is related to the otter, stoat and weasel. It is easily recognised by a white head with a black stripe over each eye and ear.
They have excellent hearing and keen sense of smell, although their sight is quite poor. Badgers have very strong bodies, particularly shoulders, short legs and a coat of coarse hairs.
Male badgers are called boars, females sows, and the young, cubs. Boars are about 1 metre long and weigh 12 to 14 kg, with sows being somewhat smaller.
Badgers live in underground tunnels and chambers called setts which are mainly found in woodland slopes, although they can be found in a variety of places, including beach cliffs and coal heaps. Active setts will usually show signs of activity, including footprints, hair, scratch marks on trees, dung pits (also called latrines) and well used paths.
Badgers are territorial animals and each social group has its own distinctive scent. They will use dung pits to mark out their territory from other groups. Mating can take place all year round. To ensure cubs are not born too early, e.g. in winter when there is less food available, sows undergo delayed implantation whereby the fertilised egg (blastocyst) does not implant in the womb until the end of winter or early spring. There is then a normal gestation of approx 6 weeks.
Cubs are born between mid January and mid March, with the peak around the first two weeks of Feb and emerge from the sett when they are about 9 or 10 weeks old. Cubs become independent of their mother by the following autumn, and are fully mature by 2 years. Adult badgers are good parents, both protecting and disciplining the cubs whilst also teaching them to forage for food.
They are clean animals in that they do not eat in the sett and regularly remove old bedding materials, made up of grass and leaves etc, and replace it with new.
Favourite foods of badgers are earthworms, but they also eat cereals, insects, fruit and small birds and mammals.
Threats to Badgers
Badger Baiting
Thousands of badgers each year are mercilessly killed by the cruel activity of baiting. This involves digging into a sett to locate the badgers and then pitting them against dogs, usually several dogs to one badger. If caught, the baiters can receive a prison sentence. Lamping is another way that baiters can acquire badgers for fighting. This involves catching badgers using a net. They may then be transported to another location for the baiting.
Road Traffic Accidents (RTA)
It is estimated that around 45,000 badgers are killed on the road in the UK each year.
Development
The main threat of development to badgers, and many other wildlife species, is loss of habitat. Development decreases feeding grounds which are vital to sustain present and future badger populations. It is estimated that 50% of new born cubs die of starvation due to loss of feeding grounds. Another hazard that comes with development is new roads that cross badger paths, which often results in an increase in road fatalities.
Snaring
The National Anti Snaring Campaign was launched following several snaring incidents in West Sussex. Their website highlights many incidents of badger snaring including video footage of a badger in a snare.
‘Culling’ and other Threats
Other threats to badgers are numerous and include illegal poisoning, and shooting. Also hazards are accidental destruction of setts, railway fatalities and legal culling by Government bodies, e.g. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). These activities cause the death of many thousands of badgers every year.