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Badger

© Josie Shadwell

The badger eats both plant and animal life, thus making it an omnivore. Its food of preference is earthworms, rodents, rabbits, insects, and plant matter. Their keen senses of smell and hearing aids their poor eyesight in the search for food. Badgers are diggers or burrowing animals, nocturnal, and walk somewhat pigeon toed. All badgers will fight fiercely to protect themselves.

Inhabiting the forests and woodlands of Europe and Asia the Old World Badger or European badger, Meles meles, are distinguished by their black and white striped faces and grey-black fur. They have broad, thickset bodies on short legs. They live in underground burrows or sets often in-groups.

Female badgers usually produce three to four cubs. These babies begin hunting for food with their mother after eight weeks of age.

The Old World badger has an unusual coloring, light above and dark below. The head is white with a black stripe running along each side from nose and over the ears and eyes. These creatures vary in lengths from 2-3 feet from nose to tail. This badger prefers to live in clearings or wooded areas. It furs was often used for making shaving brushes.

The American badger, Taxidea taxus calls the plains and prairies from Canada to Mexico home. It is short legged, giving its body a flattened appearance with a length of up to 2 feet. The fur is yellowish gray and the face black. It also has the distinguishing stripped marks over the forehead and around each eye. The American badger's soft silky coat is made up of sections of different colors. Once it was quite numerous but became fewer as people settled into the areas it lived in. Usually solitary and mostly nocturnal, he feeds largely on carrion and rodents.

Also among the badger family are the ferret-badgers, which include three species. They are the Indian ferret badger or melogale personata from India, Nepal, Burma, and Southeast Asia. The Chinese ferret badger or melogale moschata is from China, Taiwan, Assam, Burma, and Southeast Asia. The Oriental ferret badger or melogale orientalis from Java and Borneo. All are terrestrial, climb trees, and burrow. Upper body pale to dark brown, white or reddish dorsal stripe, while the belly is paler. The face has a black and white or yellowish pattern. The Teledu or Malayan stink badger or mydaus javanensis, of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java has a wide stripe or a row of patches running down the back of his small body.

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