Eurasian badger

( Meles meles )

    Taxonomy:
           Kingdom:  Animalia
           Phylum:  Chordata
           Class:  Mammalia
           Order: Carnivora
           Family:  Mustelidae
           Genus:  Meles
           Species:  Meles

   Description:  The badger's back is usually grey to charcoal grey in color with the underside and legs black.
      The head of the Eurasian badger is white with a black stripe running on each side of the head from the nose
      to the ear, surrounding the eye.  The body length is 560-900 mm and the tail length is 115-202 mm.  Like
      other badgers of the world the Eurasian badger's body is short and stocky, but the head of the Eurasian
      badger is narrower compared to the American badger.

   Habitat:  The Eurasian badger makes it's home in forests or other areas with woody cover where the
      badger digs a hole or den called a sett.  While the badger may live in a forest it does most of it's foraging
      out in the open like a field.

   Diet:  Eurasian badgers eat a variety of different things.  For instance they eat insects, other invertebrates,
      reptiles, small mammals, carrion, fruit and much more.  Earthworms make up an important component in
      their diet when available.

   Reproduction:  Mating can take place at anytime during the year but usually occurs during spring and
      autumn.  Once bred the female does what's known as delayed plantation, which is where the embryo floats
      around in the uterus implanting later on in the year, this is so the births of the offspring can be synchronized
      because the female will usually mate with many different males during her cycle.  The gestation last about 7
      weeks after the embryos have implanted.  Births occur during mid-January and early March.  The number
      of cubs born range from 1 to 5 with an average of 2 or 3.

   Behavior:  Eurasian badgers live in social groups of an average of 6 adults, although a group of 23 have
      been recorded before.  Badgers are usually spotted alone at night but in all actuality they live in these social
      groups in large complex underground catacombs called "setts."

Above Photo Copyright Steve Jackson, courtesy Steve Jackson's Badger Pages

   Conservation:  There are really no conservations actions taking place for the Eurasian badger because they
      are not in any real danger of disappearing.  This is because the badger has become well adapted to living in
      human societies.  The conservation that is going on with the badger doesn't really involve the badger itself but
      it involves trying to save the badger's setts, because some of the setts are centuries old and people argue the
      reason for saving them because of the development of subdivision in the areas of the setts.

Hot Links:

University of Michigan Eurasian Badger

WildCRU's Badger projects

Woodchester Park Badger Research

For more information contact Small Carnivore TAG education Liaison

Site created by:  Jodi Ates Fall 2002 Pensacola Junior College Student