Badger

badgerbg: Badger COMMON NAME: Badger

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Taxidea taxus

DESCRIPTION:

The badger is a stocky mammal of about 20 pounds with a silver-gray colored coat. The badger's stout body is 22 inches long; its legs are short and powerful; and its tail is short and bushy. The badger's feet are black with very long claws. The most distinctive marking is the white stripe that runs from its nose to mid-back, with black stripes on either side.

The badger is diurnal, especially in late afternoon.
With a strong sense of smell and long claws, it is well equipped for finding and digging its prey from their dens.

Badgers mustelid, possessing scent glands similar to those of a skunk, but they do not throw scent.


LIFE HISTORY:

Life Span: Averaging 12 years in captivity (known to live 17 years)

Mating Season: August - September After copulation, the fertilized egg waits in a state of suspended animation until it implants around December, then normal embryonic development occurs. This is an example of delayed implementation or embryonic diapause.

Gestation Period: True gestation period is 42 days, see comment above. Implantation takes place in December or January with the pups born in March or April.

Litter Size: 1-4, usually 2 or 3

Litter per year: 1

ECOLOGY:

Niche: Strictly carnivorous, the badger feeds mainly on rodents including ground squirrels, rats, mice, gophers and chipmunks. Coyotes and red-tailed hawks have been observed watching a hunting badger to persue a rodent fleeing the badger. Fiercely capable of defending itself, the badgers natural predators are limited to mountain lions and golden eagles. Badgers tear up a great deal of ground and so may be considered pests by ranchers and farmers. Badgers are beneficial because they reduce determental rodent populations.

Habitat: The badger lives in all land ecosystems except the northwest coastal forest. The badger prefers sandy flats of open grasslands and desert. Populations fluctate with the abundance of squirrels and gophers.
Badgers are solitary animals. They will fiercely defend their territory and a mate against other animals of the same competing species against other badgers or large predators.

ADOPT THIS ANIMAL

California Mammals
by Jameson, Jr and Peeters
ISBN# 0-520-05391-5
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