Kingdom:Animilia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Class: Mammalia
Subclass:
Theria
Infraclass:
Eutheria
Order:
Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily:
Melinae
Genus:
Taxidae
Species: taxu
Subspecies:
taxus, jeffersonii, jacksoni, berlandieri
Description
The American badger is a wide
animal with short legs and paws that face inward. A badger’s coloration
ranges from brown to silver with distinct white and black markings, which
is where they got their name. BADGE means distinct mark. They
have a dark eye stripe and cheek patches separated with white bands.
The female is usually lighter colored. The male is 64-92 cm long and weighs
8-9 kg. The largest was 11 kg. The female is 53-86 cm long and weighs
6-7 kg. Measurements vary between subspecies and seasons. The southern
species are smaller. In the winter 30% of their body weight is fat.
Their life span is normally 14 years in the wild and up to 26 years in
captivity. Badgers are not very agile due to their low positioning
to the ground, but have large claws 4.5 cm and sharp teeth allowing them
to stand their ground when needed.
| Dental Formula | 3/3-I, 1/1-C, 3/3-P, 1/2-M = 34 |
Physical Adaptations
The badger’s body is designed
for burrowing. They have a wedge shaped head, stiff bristles to protest
their ears, and a highly developed nictitating membrane for their eyes.
They have very powerful legs, partially webbed toes and extremely long
front claws. Their front claws grow at a highly accelerated rate
compared to the rear. They can dig a hole to safety in less then
a minute. They have very good hearing and an acute sense of smell.
Their sight is fair, but better then their European relative due to being
slightly less nocturnal. They also have a musk gland on their underside
that produces a pungent odor, which is used for defense. They cannot
spray the musk like the skunk, though. Their fur is almost immune
to rattle snake bite, which makes catching one easier when your not agile.
Track: Front - 6 cm long / 5 cm wide Track: Rear - 5 cm long / 5 cm wide |
Range
T. t. taxus-
south, central Canada to the northern and central states in America.
T. t. jeffersonii-
British Columbia down California coast and into Nevada, Utah, Colorado
,
Montana, and Wyoming.
T. t. jacksoni-
Great Lakes to Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio
T. t. berlandieri-
southern states and Mexico.
Habitat
Badgers live in open, dry country
such as plains, farmlands, prairies, parklands, and the edge of deciduous
forests. Some of the southern species live in the desert. They
have large ranges that overlap. The size ranges from 1-3 square km; the
female's range size is on the smaller end of the scale. Very
little has been observed of them marking their boundaries. They mainly
try to avoid one another, except during mating season. They live
in simple burrows called setts. They are usually 3 m deep and 9 m
long. They line their bedding chambers with dry grasses, which they
change regularly. They have many side pockets some are dead ends,
other are used to deposit feces in, which they cover up with dirt. They
may have up to 50 dens within their territory. They have been observed
using a different one every night until winter where they limit themselves
to one or two.
Feeding
Badgers are carnivorous, but
will occasionally feed on plants. Their main diet consists of burrowing
rodents, which they hunt by sniffing them out with their powerful sense
of smell, then rapidly dig them up with their long front claws. Badgers
will also eat insect they come across while hunting. They have been
known to raid hornet and wasp nest. In the winter badgers rely mainly
on their fat stores, but will also come out to hunt. They can even
smell rodents through the snow. Badgers due not require large amounts
of free drinking water, since the diet they choose is high in water.
Behavior
Badgers are nocturnal, but become
more diurnal in the southern species. They are all highly solitary,
except for the breeding season. Badgers are not a very friendly species.
They are easily agitated to aggression. They make their homes as
far from people as possible, but will stand their ground when confronted
to anything, including bears and wolves. Badgers do not hibernate even
in the far northern parts of their range. They become semi-dormant.
They can hiss and grunt (similar to a pig) but have limited vocal abilities.
Reproduction
Badgers are monestrous.
There is no pair bonding observed between boars (males) and sows (females).
He will mate with all females whose territories overlap with his. They
mate in the late summer to fall. They use delayed implantation, which
last for 6 months. Implantation occurs between December and February,
and the cubs are born after a six-week gestation between March and April.
The female gives birth in an underground chamber. The average number
of cubs is 2-3, but badgers can have 1-5. The cubs are born blind
and helpless, with short, soft, silky hair. Their eyes open within
six weeks and become very playful. Mothers are highly defensive over
their young. Lactation lasts for six to eight weeks. The young
leave on the onset of the next mating season. Males mature in their
second year, but 30% of females mate within their first year. The greatest
mortality rate for badgers is within their first year.
Migration
Badgers due not migrate.
They stay within their home range, which is quite large. A male's
territory is usually 2.4 square km, and a female's is 1.6 square km.
During the warm weather they hunt over mostly all of their territory, but
stay close to one sett in the winter.
Inter Species Relationships
Badgers due not have any natural
predators except humans. Badgers are trapped for the fur trade.
They are also susceptible to rodenticides, and considered a hazard to hoofstock,
due to their numerous burrows, therefore killed by farmers. Their
prey include: Pocket gofers, Marmot, Ground squirrels, Kangaroo rats, mice,
rabbits, skunks, birds, eggs, reptiles, and insects.
Links for more Biology and Pictures:
For more information, contact
Small
Carnivore TAG Education Liaison
This page created by Kiehrstin Schirtzinger, Pensacola Junior College ZooTech student, Fall 2000