badger

Badger
European badger
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Caniformia
Superfamily:	Musteloidea
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Melinae Mellivorinae Taxidiinae
Genera
Melogale  Meles  Mellivora  Taxidea
Badger ranges Gold = Honey badger (Mellivora capensis) Red = American badger (Taxidea taxus) Teal = European badger (Meles meles) Dark green = Asian badger (Meles leucurus) Lime green = Japanese badger (Meles anakuma) Blue = Chinese ferret-badger (Melogale moschata) Indigo = Burmese ferret-badger (Melogale personata) Azure = Javan ferret-badger (Melogale orientalis) Purple = Bornean ferret-badger (Melogale everetti)

Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies (see links in species list below): Melinae (badgers of Europe and Asia), Mellivorinae (the Ratel or honey badger), and Taxideinae (the American badger). The Asiatic stink badgers of the genus Mydaus were formerly included in the Melinae and Mustelidae, but recent genetic evidence^[1] indicates that these are actually members of the skunk family, placing them in the taxonomic family Mephitidae.

Badgers include the species in the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Taxidea and Mellivora species. Their lower jaw is articulated to the upper by means of a transverse condyle firmly locked into a long cavity of the cranium, so that dislocation of the jaw is all but impossible. This enables the badger to maintain its hold with the utmost tenacity, but limits its jaw movement to hinging open and shut, or sliding from side to side without the twisting movement possible for the jaws of most mammals.

Badgers have rather short, fat bodies, with short legs built for digging. Their ears are small, and they have elongated weasel-like heads, their tails vary in length depending on species, the stink badger has a very short tail, while the ferret badger's tail can be 18 to 20 inches (46 to 51 cm) long, depending on age. They have black faces with distinctive white markings, their bodies are gray with a light colored stripe from their head to their tail, they have dark legs with light colored stomachs. They grow to around 35 inches (89 cm) in length including tail. the European badger is one of the largest, the American badger, the hog badger and the honey badger are similar in size and weight, though generally a little smaller and lighter. The stink badgers are smaller still, and the ferret badgers are the smallest of all. They weigh around 20–24 pounds (9.1–11 kg) on average, with some Eurasian badgers weighing in at around 40 pounds (18 kg).^[2][3]

Etymology

An American badger adult female, or sow

The word badger originally applied to the European badger (Meles meles). Its derivation is uncertain. It possibly comes from the French word bêcheur (digger).^[4] The Oxford English Dictionary states it probably derives from badge + -ard, referring to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead.^[5] It is possibly related to the Romanian viezure ("badger"), a word of uncertain etymology, believed to be inherited from Dacian/Thracian and related to the Albanian vjedhullë ("badger", "thief") and vjeth ("to steal"), and the Slavic jazvrŭ ("hedgehog"; cf. Serbian jazavac "badger").^{[6][7][not in citation given]} The less common name brock (Old English: brocc), (Scots: brock) is a Celtic loanword (cf. Gaelic broc and Welsh broch, from Proto-Celtic *brokko) meaning grey.^[5] The Proto-Germanic term was *þahsu- (cf. German Dachs, Dutch das, Norwegian svin-toks; Early Modern English: dasse), probably from the PIE root *tek'- "to construct," so that the badger would have been named after its digging of setts (tunnels).

A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow and a young badger is a cub. A collective name suggested for a group of badgers is a cete,^[8] but badger colonies are more often called clans.^{[citation needed]} Badger dens are called setts.

Classification

The following list shows where the various species with the common name of badger are placed in the Mustelidae classification. The list is polyphyletic and the species commonly called badgers do not, if the stink badgers are included, form a valid clade.

• Family Mustelidae
  • Subfamily Melinae
    • Genus †Enhydritherium
      • Giant Florida sea otter, Enhydritherium terraenovae^[9]
    • Genus †Satherium
      • Satherium piscinarium (Hagerman's Otter)
    • Genus Melogale
      • Burmese ferret-badger, Melogale personata
      • Javan ferret-badger, Melogale orientalis
      • Chinese ferret-badger, Melogale moschata
      • Bornean ferret-badger, Melogale everetti
      • Vietnam ferret-badger, Melogale cucphuongensis
    • Genus Meles
      • Japanese badger, Meles anakuma
      • Asian badger, Meles leucurus
      • European badger, Meles meles
  • Subfamily Mellivorinae
    • Honey badger or Ratel, Mellivora capensis
  • Subfamily Taxideinae:
    • †Chamitataxus avitus
    • †Pliotaxidea nevadensis
    • †Pliotaxidea garberi
    • American badger, Taxidea taxus
  • Subfamily Mustelinae
    • Includes: weasels, martens, polecats and allies
• Family Mephitidae
  • Genus Mydaus
    • Indonesian or Sunda stink badger (teledu), Mydaus javanensis
    • Palawan stink badger, Mydaus marchei

Distribution

Badgers are found in much of North America, Ireland, Great Britain^[10] and most of Europe as far as southern Scandinavia.^[11] They live as far east as Japan and China. The Javan ferret-badger lives in Indonesia,^[12] and the Bornean ferret-badger lives in Malaysia.^[12] The honey badger is found in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Desert, southern Levant, Turkmenistan, and India.^[12]

Behavior

The behavior of badgers differs by family, but all shelter underground, living in burrows called setts, which may be very extensive. Some are solitary, moving from home to home, while others are known to form clans. Clan size is variable from 2 to 15. Badgers can be fierce animals and will protect themselves and their young at all costs. Badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves and bears. Badgers can run or gallop at up to 25–30 kilometres per hour (16–19 mph) for short periods of time.

In North America, coyotes sometimes eat badgers and vice versa, but the majority of their interactions seem to be mutual or neutral.^[13] American badgers and coyotes have been seen hunting together in a cooperative fashion.^[14]

Diet

The diet of the Eurasian badger consists largely of earthworms, insects, and grubs. They also eat small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds as well as roots and fruit.^[15][16] Indeed, in southern Spain, badgers mostly feed on rabbits.^[17] The honey badger of Africa consumes honey, porcupines and even venomous snakes (such as the puff adder). They will climb trees to gain access to honey from bees' nests. American badgers are fossorial carnivores. Unlike many carnivores that stalk their prey in open country, badgers catch most of their food by digging. They can tunnel after ground-dwelling rodents with amazing speed.

Badgers have been known to become intoxicated with alcohol after eating rotting fruit.^[18]

Humans

Hunting badgers is common in many countries. Manipulating the badger population is prohibited in many European countries as badgers are listed in the Berne Convention, but they are not otherwise the subject of any international treaty or legislation.

The blood sport of badger-baiting was outlawed in the United Kingdom by the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 as well as the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 which makes it a serious offense to kill, injure or take a badger, or to damage or interfere with a sett unless a license is obtained from a statutory authority. An exemption that allowed fox hunters to loosely block setts to prevent chased foxes escaping into them was brought to an end with the passage of the Hunting Act 2004.

Many badgers in Europe were gassed^{[citation needed]} during the 1960s and 1970s to control rabies. Until the 1980s, gassing was also practiced in the UK to control the spread of bovine TB. However, in December 2011 it was announced that in the following year, badger culling was to be undertaken once more in order to prevent the spread of Bovine TB. This was met with distaste by opponents who suggested a vaccination programme.^[19]

The dachshund dog breed has a history with badgers; "dachs" is the German word for badger, and dachshunds were originally bred to be badger hounds.^[20]

Commercial use

Badger pelts

Today badgers are commercially raised for their hair, which is harvested to make shaving brushes. Virtually all commercial badger hair comes from mainland China,^{[citation needed]} which supplies knots of hair in three grades to brush makers in both China and Europe. In rural Northern China, badgers multiply to the point of becoming a crop nuisance, and village cooperatives are licensed by the national government to hunt badgers and process their hair. The hair is also used for paint brushes, and was used as a trim on Native American garments.^[21] It has been used in some instances as doll hair.^{[citation needed]}

Food

Although rarely eaten today in the United States or the United Kingdom,^[22] badger was once one of the main meat sources in the diets of Native Americans and white colonists.^{[23][24][25][26][27]} Badgers were also eaten in Britain during the Second World War and the 1950s.^[24]

In Russia, the consumption of badger meat is still widespread.^[28] Shish kebabs made from badger, along with dog meat and pork, are cited as a major source of trichinellosis outbreaks in the Altai region of Russia.^[28] Consumption of badger meat also occurs in other European countries such as Croatia, where it is used in a variation of the traditional dish of goulash.^[29] In contrast to Russia, there are no reports of trichinellosis related to the consumption of badger meat. This is credited to adequate preparation of the meat and good thermal processing of it.^[27]

In France, badger meat was used in the preparation of several dishes, such as Blarieur au sang and it was a relatively common ingredient in countryside cuisine.^[30] Badger meat was eaten in some parts of Spain until recently^[31] Some Asian countries have traditions of consuming badger meat. In Japan, it is mentioned in folktales where it is regarded as a food for the humble.^[32] Also, in northern China, badgers are consumed but in low numbers.

Popular culture

Badger, Rat, Mole, and Toad from The Wind in the Willows.

Badger characters are featured in author Brian Jacques' Redwall series, most often falling under the title of Badger Lord or Badger Mother, and the 19th century poem "The Badger" by John Clare describes a badger hunt and badger-baiting. The character Frances in Russell Hoban's children's books is depicted as a badger. A badger god is featured in The Immortals by Tamora Pierce and "The Badger" is a comic book hero created by Mike Baron.

Many other stories featuring badgers as characters include Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mr. Tod (Tommy Brock), the Rupert Bear adventures by Mary Tourtel, Prince Caspian (Trufflehunter) by C. S. Lewis, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, T. H. White's The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn, Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, Colin Dann's The Animals of Farthing Wood, Richard Adams's Watership Down and Erin Hunter's Warriors. In the Harry Potter books, the official mascot of the Hogwarts house of Hufflepuff is the badger, featuring this animal in the house's coat of arms as well as in the entire schools. The Hufflepuff common room has little underground tunnels leading to the dormitories, all of which have perfectly round doors, like barrel tops (much like a badger sett). In The Incident at Hawks Hill by Allan W. Eckert a badger is one of the main characters.

Badgers are also featured in films and animations: a flash video of "The Badger Song" shows a group doing calisthenics; in Pokémon, Typhlosion and Linoone are based on badgers. Walt Disney's 1973 film Robin Hood, depicts the character of Friar Tuck as a badger.

In Japanese folklore, the badger is a wild creature that sometimes appears as a mischievous being.^[33] In Europe, badgers were traditionally used to predict the length of winter.^[34] The badger is both the state animal of the U.S. state of Wisconsin^[35] and the mascot of the University of Wisconsin's athletic teams. The badger is also the official mascot of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

In 2007, suggestions that British forces deliberately released man-eating badgers near Basra, Iraq, to intimidate the local population were refuted.^[36][37]

Badgers are found in the game Dwarf Fortress, are found in groups of three to six, are extremely quick, and are prone to rage. Dwarves may like them for their underground communities and their striped faces.

Notes

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: melinae

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Badger.

• Badgerland – The Definitive On-Line Guide to Badgers in the UK
• WildlifeOnline – Natural History of Badgers
• Badger Facts
• Badger in the Netherlands
• Badger-Coyote Associations

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Badger