Badger

Badgers
American Badger
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Mustelidae Subfamily: Melinae Mellivorinae Taxidiinae
Genera
Arctonyx  Melogale  Meles  Mellivora  Taxidea

Badger is the common name for various heavily built, carnivorous, burrowing mammals in the family Mustelidae, characterized by short legs, long snouts, well-developed anal scent glands, plantigrade locomotion, long, grizzled hair, and long, sharp, non-retractile claws on each of the five digits of the front feet. The family Mustelidae also includes the similar ferrets, weasels, wolverines, otters, stoats, and fishers, with the badgers being those mustelids in the three subfamilies of Melinae, Mellivorinae, and Taxideinae, depending on the taxonomic scheme. Eight extant species, placed in six genera, are recognized as badgers.

Two animals with the common name badger, the Javan stink badger (Mydaus javanensis) and the Palawan stink badger (Mydaus marchei) are now in the Mephitidae family and are not discussed in this article.

Overview and description

American badger.

Badgers are part of the largest family in Carnivora, the Mustelidae family, which includes the weasels, stoats, wolverines, otters, martens, and minks, among others. Mustelids are characterized by enlarged anal scent glands, the lack of a second upper molar and the carnassila notch on the fourth upper permolar, and generally short legs, a large rostum, and an elongated body (Wund 2005). However, they share these characteristics with skunks, which used to be part of this family but now are placed in their own family of Mephitidae. To some extent, Mustelidae is a catch-all category for many poorly differentiated taxa.

The badgers comprise eight extant species and six genera. The relationship of these genera is not settled. Historically, between four and seven subfamilies have been recognized in the past (Wund 2005). Some consider badgers to be those mustelids that comprise the subfamily Melinae. However, some of these species have also been moved to other families, and currently badgers are placed into three subfamilies: 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, but recent genetic evidence indicates that these are actually Old World relatives of the skunks (family Mephitidae).

Typical badgers (Meles, Arctonyx, Taxidea, and Mellivora species) are short-legged and heavy-set. The 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 opening and shutting or sliding from side to side.

Behavior and diet

The behavior of badgers differs by subfamily, but all shelter underground, living in burrows called setts. Some are solitary, moving from home to home, while others are known to form clans. Clan size is variable from 2 to 15.

Badgers are fierce animals and will protect themselves and their young at all costs. Badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves, coyotes, and bears. Badgers can run or gallop at up to 25 to 30 kilometers per hour for short periods of time.

File:Badger delete1.jpg

Eurasian badger.

American badgers are fossorial carnivores. (Fossorial means adapted to digging and life underground). Unlike many carnivores that stalk their prey in open country, American badgers catch most of their food by digging. They can tunnel after ground dwelling rodents with amazing speed. They have been known to cache food.

The diet of the omnivorous Eurasian badger consists largely of earthworms, insects, and grubs. They also eat small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds as well as cereals, roots, and fruit (Woodchester).

The honey badger consumes honey, porcupines, and even venomous snakes (such as the puff adder). They will climb trees to gain access to honey from bees' nests.

Classification

• Family Mustelidae
  • (Subfamily Lutrinae: otters)
  • Subfamily Melinae
    • Hog badger, Arctonyx collaris
    • Burmese ferret badger, Melogale personata
    • Oriental ferret badger, Melogale orientalis
    • Chinese ferret badger, Melogale moschata
    • Everett's ferret badger, Melogale everetti
    • Eurasian badger, Meles meles
  • Subfamily Mellivorinae
    • Ratel or honey badger, Mellivora capensis
  • Subfamily Taxideinae:
    • †Chamitataxus avitus
    • †Pliotaxidea nevadensis
    • †Pliotaxidea garberi
    • American badger, Taxidea taxus
  • (Subfamily Mustelinae: weasels, martens, polecats and allies)
• Family Mephitidae
  • Indonesian or Javan stink badger (Teledu), Mydaus javanensis
  • Palawan stink badger, Mydaus marchei

Terminology

A male badger is a boar, a female a sow, and a young badger is a cub. The collective name for a group of badgers is a clan, colony, or cete.

The derivation of the word badger is uncertain. It possibly comes from the French word blaireau for "corn-hoarder," or from the French word bêcheur for "digger," introduced during William the Conqueror's reign (BBC 2008). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, states that the most likely derivation is from badge and -ard, in reference to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead (Weiner and Simpson 1989).

An older term for "badger" is brock (Old English brocc), a Celtic loanword (Gaelic broc, Welsh broch, from Proto-Celtic *brokko) meaning gray (Weiner and Simpson 1989). The Proto-Germanic term was *þahsu- (German Dachs), probably from the PIE root *tek'- "to construct," so that the badger would have been named after its digging of setts (tunnels).

Badgers and humans

Hunting badgers is common in many countries. Meddling in badger population is prevented as badgers are listed in the Berne Convention (Appendix III), 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 offence to kill, injure or take a badger, or to damage or interfere with a sett unless a licence 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 during the 1960s and 1970s to control rabies. Until the 1980s, gassing was also practised in the UK to control the spread of bovine TB.

Scandinavian custom is to put eggshells or styrofoam in one's boots when walking through badger territory, as badgers are believed to bite down until they can hear a crunch. 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.

The badger is the state animal of Wisconsin. Likenesses of badgers appear through the Wisconsin State Capitol, and a badger appears on the head of the statue of Wisconsin atop the building. The official mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is Buckingham U. Badger, AKA Bucky Badger.

Badgers in the human diet

Evidence shows that badger meat is freely available in marketplaces in China. It was until recently eaten in parts of Spain, it is sometimes eaten in Croatia, and in 2005 there was an outbreak of trichinellosis in the Novosibirsk region of Russia caused by people eating shish kebabs made from badger meat.

Badger products

Today badgers are commercially raised for their hair, which is harvested to make shaving brushes. Because badgers are a protected species in North America and most of Europe, virtually all commercial badger hair comes from mainland China, 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. It has been used in some instances as doll hair.^{[citation needed]}

In fiction and popular culture

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

Badgers are popular in English fiction. Many badger characters are featured in author Brian Jacques' Redwall series, most often falling under the title of Badger Lord or Badger Mother. Other stories featuring badgers include Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mr. Tod ("Tommy Brock"), C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian ("Trufflehunter"), The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn by T. H. White, Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, and The Animals of Farthing Wood.

In the Harry Potter series, one of the four "houses" of Hogwarts, Hufflepuff, is symbolised by a badger. The character Frances in Russell Hoban's series of children's books is a badger. Badgers also appear prominently in two volumes of Erin Hunter's Warriors: The New Prophecy series, and a badger god is featured as a major character and spirit guide for the lead character in The Immortals series by Tamora Pierce.

The most prominent poem on the badger is from the Romantic period's John Clare. "Badger" describes a badger hunt, complete with badger-baiting, and treats the badger as a noble creature which dies at the end.

Badgers are the primary subject of a popular flash animation simply called "badgers".

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

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• Wund, M. 2005. Mustelidae. Mustelidae. Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved October 24, 2008.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to:

melinae

• Badgerland - The Definitive On-Line Guide to Badgers in the UK
• IberiaNature: Spanish badgers
• Steve Jackson's Badger Pages
• The Badger Trust (formerly the National Federation of Badger Groups)
• The Virtual Badger Sett
• WildlifeOnline - Natural History of Badgers
• BadgerBadgerBadger- Home of the Dancing Badgers

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