Badger habitat. Badgers: where they live and what they eat in the wild. How to identify a badger hole

Badger(lat. Meles meles) - a predatory animal from the weasel family.

Badger description and photos.

The badger's body is long and tapers towards the head, up to 60-90 centimeters in length. The weight of a badger can reach 24 kilograms. The paws of these animals are massive, but short: predators stand firmly on them, resting their entire foot. The claws are long and blunt, adapted for digging. The coat of a badger is not monochromatic. The body is black and gray with a hint of silver, and the head is white with two black, vertical stripes.

Types of badgers.

Among these predators, several species are distinguished: Japanese badger, Asian badger, common badger(European), American badger.

Where does the badger live?

The badger's dwelling is a hole with its own system of passages; animals live in families in it. Sometimes there are huge holes, similar to underground towns, in which fifteen families live. Badgers can also share their home with or. The number of family members directly depends on the amount of food in their territory. In the family, badgers distinguish each other by smell. They do not accept strangers, uninvited guests are driven away by the leader of the family. Badgers are very clean animals, they clean their holes and even build toilets separately from their homes.

What does a badger eat?

In search of food, badgers can wander very far. They always use the same roads and paths. Badger in nature is accustomed to travel long distances. During the mating season, they can travel countless miles without much difficulty. In food, they are not picky and eat almost everything. The diet includes fruits and roots as well as small mammals. , rabbits, and especially their cubs, can become a meal for a badger. But most of all, the badger loves to eat earthworms, they are his favorite delicacy.

Badger breeding.

The breeding season for badgers lasts from February to October, but the peak comes in September. These animals are monogamous. The pregnancy of badgers lasts a very long time, from 271 to 450 days. It depends on what time of the year the female became pregnant. From one to four cubs are born, which remain blind for almost five weeks and depend on their parents. They will be able to eat on their own in three months, but they drink milk for four months. Badgers prepare nurseries even before the babies appear, and the female badger gives birth to babies already there. When the cubs grow up and no longer need a nesting hole, it is replaced with a new one, removing the old grass bedding. On the eve of hibernation, in autumn, the brood breaks up and goes into independent life.

The common badger is a predatory animal from the weasel family, a class of mammals. It is considered one of the most easily recognizable animals in wild nature. With its appearance, the badger is a bit like a medium-sized dog.

The body length of the animal is 70-90 cm. As a rule, females are slightly smaller than males.

The mammal has a rather long and fluffy tail. General form the body of the animal is cone-shaped. The rear wide part gradually narrows, turning into an elongated neck and an elongated muzzle.

On the head of a mammal there are small rounded ears with interesting white tassels. The eyes are small, reminiscent of shiny beads.

The limbs are not long, but rather massive. A notable feature is the claws, thanks to which the badger quickly digs the ground, building a hole for itself.

The coat of the animal is hard and short. On the back, the length of the coat does not exceed 8 cm, on the paws and head it is even shorter. The coloring of the animal is quite unusual. On the back and sides, the coat has a gray-silver tint, paws and belly are black. On the muzzle of the badger there are two black stripes that begin in the nose and end at the ears.

Animals molt 2 times a year (spring and summer). First, the soft undercoat falls out, then the guard hairs. At the end of August, the molt ends.

Due to the hard and thick coat, the animal visually seems larger than it really is. The weight of a badger depends on the season. Before hibernation average weight- 23 kg, after waking up - 15 kg.

The character of the badger is calm, not aggressive. When meeting with an enemy or a person, he prefers to quickly run away. Rarely strikes first.

The animal moves rather slowly, most often in small steps and jumps. But if he senses danger, he can run quickly, knows how to swim well. The mammal has a well-developed sense of smell and hearing. They can hear the enemy hundreds of meters away.

But the vision of the animal is weak. We can say that the animal is almost blind. The badger sees moving objects blurry, as if in a fog.

Badger tracks resemble those of a bear, only much smaller. The footprint of the animal is 4 cm wide, about 8 cm long.

The habits of the animal are well known. badger leads night image life, and sleeps during the day after hunting. Most The animal spends its life in a hole, which it builds and periodically renews. In the very simple execution burrow consists of:

one entrance;
mandatory long tunnel;
nesting chamber, which contains leaves and dry grass.

Burrow depth - 1-5 meters. The animal has nesting chambers under the aquifer. Thanks to this, the hole is always dry and warm. Animals often change the litter, replacing rotten leaves with new ones.

Often, a badger hole is complex structure with tunnels, many entrances and exits. A real labyrinth for other animals. Badgers build such holes for safety, to protect themselves and their offspring from foxes and raccoon dogs.

Range, habitats

The range of the animal is quite wide. The mammal lives throughout Europe, Russia and the Caucasus. The exception is Scandinavia (northern part) and Siberia.

The badger is found in China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

Based on the habitat, there are several types of animals:

European badgers;
Asian badger.

The animal lives where it is possible to dig a hole. If the area is flooded, the beast will not be able to get along there. Another important condition is the proximity of a reservoir or lake (within a radius of up to 1 km).

Often, the animal can be found in deciduous or mixed forests where a lot of shrubs and tall grass grow. The badger prefers to dig holes in overgrown ravines, on slopes, forest edges. Often, the dwelling of a live badger is found on the high banks of rivers. The beast does not live in open steppes, deserts, dense taiga forests.

What does a badger eat?

Like any representative of mustelids, badgers can be classified as predators. But in fact, the animal is not too whimsical in food and is even omnivorous.

From plant foods, he will not refuse roots, berries, fruits, mushrooms, succulent twigs of trees. If there are sown fields nearby, the badger can spoil crops. An animal cannot be fully called a herbivore or herbivore.

From animal food, the animal can eat small rodents, fish, birds, insects, mollusks, larvae.

Favorite badger food - earthworms. He can eat them daily in large quantities, so he practically does not need water.

The animal will never touch carrion, even in the most hungry times. But it can eat its young.

The badger eats a little, up to 0.5 kg per day. Exceptions - the period of preparation for hibernation. In a few weeks, the animal can add up to 10 kg in weight. At this time, the food of the badger is varied.

Reproduction and offspring

Badgers are monogamous animals. They change partners only on rare occasions. Pairs are created for life.

The mating season for animals lasts from February to October. But the peak of sexual activity is in September. Pregnancy of the female lasts quite a long time, in some cases up to 12 months. It depends on the time when conception occurred.

Even before the appearance of offspring, an adult badger begins to prepare a new mink for cubs. In addition to entrances and exits, several nesting chambers are built, dry leaves are laid.

In each litter, 3-4 cubs are born (maximum 6). At first, badgers look like little rats. They are defenseless and completely dependent on their parents. Cubs are born blind and deaf, there is practically no fur on their body. The weight of a newborn badger does not exceed 80 grams.

Breastfeeding continues for 3-4 months. After, when the badgers begin to feed on their own, they quickly gain weight and leave their parents.

But as a rule, they spend the first hibernation (anabiosis) with their family, and after that they equip a separate hole.

Females become sexually mature at 2 years, males at 3 years.

How many live

The lifespan of an animal nature 10-12 years, but in captivity a little more (up to 16 years). This is due to the following factors:

In the first years of offspring, only 50% of newborns survive. The parents themselves will eat the cubs if they are hungry.
Even after the animal grows up, begins to feed on its own, mortality remains high. They are killed by rivals in the fight for holes and new territories.
Often, animals become food for bears, foxes, wolves.
It is impossible to write off poachers who hunt for badger fat, used in folk medicine.
Animals die from infectious diseases.

Breeders are breeding badgers. This is a profitable business. But experts say that if the animal does not live in its natural environment, badger fat loses its properties and qualities.

These mammals are not threatened with extinction. The animal is listed in the Red Book, but with a note that the species is under the least threat disappearance. Often the animal is exterminated as a carrier of serious diseases, such as rabies. But even so, their population remains large.

As the facts show, for badgers, a threat is a person. These animals die under the wheels of cars. If this continues, the badger will become a rare species or disappear from natural environment habitat.

natural enemies

The mammal has few enemies. Wild animals are dangerous: bears, lynxes, wolves, dogs. As a rule, young, inexperienced individuals become victims.

If the badger is taken by surprise, the animal lets out a loud cry, calls for help from fellow tribesmen. Dealing with this animal is difficult. The animal bites, fights off with its paws, scratches the enemy. Causes serious injury to the offender.

But badgers do not quarrel with foxes. These animals can even settle in one hole. If the fox does not interfere and exterminate the offspring, such cohabitation will be successful.

Badgers - beneficial mammals. They eat insects that are harmful agriculture. The skin of the animal is of no interest in the fur industry, but badger fat is still valuable in folk medicine. Badgers do not die out, but it is forbidden to exterminate animals.

Badger or common badger, predatory mammal mustelidae family, the only species in the badger genus.

Body length - 60-90 cm, tail - 20-24 cm; weight - up to 24 kg, in autumn, before hibernation - up to 34 kg. The shape of the massive body is peculiar, it looks like a wedge facing forward, which sharply narrows towards the end of the elongated thin muzzle. The neck is short, almost imperceptible. The legs are short, massive, resting on the ground with the whole foot. On the fingers - long blunt claws adapted to digging. Wool is rough. The color of the back and sides is brownish-gray with a silvery tint; lower body - blackish. There are two dark stripes on the muzzle, stretching from the nose to the ears.

Spreading

Inhabits almost all of Europe (except for the northern regions of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Finland), the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Crimea, Malaya and Central Asia, South and Central Siberia, south Far East, Eastern China, Korean Peninsula, Japan.

Lifestyle

It is found mainly in mixed and taiga forests, less often in mountain forests; in the south of its range it occurs in steppes and semi-deserts. Adheres to dry, well-drained areas, but near (up to 1 km) water bodies or swampy lowlands, where it is richer fodder base. The badger lives in deep burrows, which it digs along the slopes of sandy hills, forest ravines and gullies. Beasts from generation to generation adhere to favorite places; as shown by special geochronological studies, some of the badger towns are several thousand years old. Solitary individuals use simple burrows with one entrance and a nesting chamber. Old badger settlements represent a complex multi-tiered underground structure with several (up to 40-50) inlets and ventilation holes and long (5-10 m) tunnels leading to 2-3 extensive nesting chambers lined with dry litter, located at a depth of up to 5 m. Nesting chambers are often located under the protection of an aquifer that prevents rain and groundwater from seeping into them. Periodically, the burrows are cleaned by badgers, the old litter is thrown out. Often, badger burrows are occupied by other animals: foxes, raccoon dogs.

The badger is nocturnal, although it can often be seen during daylight hours - in the morning before 8, in the evening - after 5-6 hours. The badger is omnivorous. It feeds on mouse-like rodents, frogs, lizards, birds and their eggs, insects and their larvae, mollusks, earthworms, mushrooms, berries, nuts and grass. When hunting, the badger has to go around large territories, rummaging through fallen trees, tearing off the bark of trees and stumps in search of worms and insects. Sometimes in one hunt a badger gets 50-70 and more frogs, hundreds of insects and earthworms. However, he eats only 0.5 kg of food per day, and only by autumn eats heavily and puts on fat, which serves as a source of food for him during winter sleep. This is the only representative of mustelids that hibernates for the winter. In the northern regions, the badger already hibernates in October - November until March-April; in the southern regions, where winters are mild and short, it is active all year round.

reproduction

Badgers are monogamous. Pairs are formed in them since autumn, but mating and fertilization occurs in different dates, in connection with which the duration of pregnancy, which has a long latent stage, changes. Pregnancy in a female can last from 271 days (during summer mating) to 450 days (during winter). Cubs (2-6) are born: in Europe - in December - April, in Russia - in March - April. A few days later, the females are fertilized again. The cubs begin to see clearly at 35-42 days, and at the age of 3 months they already feed on their own. In autumn, on the eve of hibernation, the broods break up. Young females become sexually mature in the second year of life, males - in the third. The life expectancy of a badger is 10-12, in captivity - up to 16 years.

Appearance

The body length is from 60 to 90 centimeters, the length of the tail does not exceed 24 centimeters. With a total body length of more than 1 meter and a height of 50-60 centimeters, the badger animal is the largest of its family. The torso, tapering towards the shoulders, is connected by a short neck to an elongated head extended towards the nose. Thus, the torso, neck and head of the beast form a wedge. The paws are short and powerful. The claws on the front feet are longer than those on the hind feet. This is well demonstrated by badger tracks.

The fur of the beast consists of long awns and a thick undercoat. The silver-gray color of the back and sides is gradually replaced by almost black on the belly and paws. On the muzzle there are two wide black stripes that can start from the nose itself and cover the eyes and ears. The rounded tips of the ears are painted white.

The weight of the animal depends on the season: after waking up - up to 15 kg, before hibernation - up to 25 kg.

habitats

The habitat covers almost all of Europe. Behind Ural mountains the beast can be found almost throughout Russia (except for the extreme northern and arid regions). It is also distributed in China, on the Korean Peninsula and in Japan.

Thus, according to the habitat, the following varieties can be distinguished:

European badger;
Asian badger.

This animal often settles in mixed forests. Avoids open steppes and deserts, as well as dense taiga forests. The badger's dwelling is located in places where there is a lot of grass and shrubs, and the soil does not freeze and is not flooded. Where badgers live, there is always at least some body of water nearby: a lake, a swamp, a river.

Lifestyle and habits

Nora

The animal is nocturnal, so its vision is poorly developed, and its hearing and sense of smell are very good. During the day it mostly sleeps for night hunting.

The animal spends most of its life in a burrow, which, being excellent at digging the ground, it builds, repairs and renovates. These animals can live alone or in families.

In the simplest version, a badger hole consists of one entrance, a tunnel and a nesting chamber at a depth of 1 to 5 meters. The nesting chamber is always landscaped with dry grass and leaves.

Often, badger burrows are connected into a complex labyrinth of many long tunnels, dead ends, nesting chambers and entrances and exits.

It is noteworthy that this animal tries to locate the nesting chambers under the aquifer, due to which it is always dry and warm in these chambers. The animal regularly changes the old litter from the nesting chambers to the fresh one.

An abandoned badger hole can become a home for a fox or a raccoon dog.

It is also interesting that the animal digs special holes for its excrement.

Wintering

Not only having accumulated a sufficient amount of fat, but also having filled its pantries with the necessary supplies, the animal hibernates with the onset of winter. No other member of this family winters like this. Before lying down, he lays all the entrances to the hole with leaves. However, the badger in winter does not sleep like a bear, but sensitively.

He often wakes up, and in the thaw he can even leave the hole. At this time, traces of a badger can be found near the hole. Each individual hibernates in a separate nesting chamber. As soon as the snow begins to melt in spring, the animal finally wakes up.

Nutrition

Like any representative of the mustelids, the badger is considered a predator, but in fact it is an omnivore. Long-term observations allow us to unambiguously indicate what the badger eats.

His menu includes both plant and animal food, but not carrion, which he will not touch even in difficult hungry times.

Badgers feed on insects, amphibians and reptiles: often lizards, rarely snakes. As soon as the time comes for berries, mushrooms and nuts, he willingly absorbs them. A badger eats no more than half a kilogram of food per day.

reproduction

The common badger is a monogamous animal. The formed pair is preserved for the entire time until one of the partners dies. The badger rut begins in spring and ends in summer.

The next spring, the female brings 3-5 cubs, which are blind and completely helpless. Pregnancy lasts from 9 to 12 months. For the first three months of life, the only food for badgers is mother's milk. Then the parents teach them to hunt, and the children switch to regular food.

Under natural conditions, the badger lives from 10 to 12 years.

Economic importance

The badger, destroying many pests such as Maybug larvae, bears, rodents, brings great benefits to forestry and agriculture. However, when settling next to a person, the badger does not hesitate to eat from the garden. This causes harm, but the magnitude of the benefit from it is disproportionately greater.

badger and man

Badger fur has no commercial value. Not every hunter eats meat. Only badger fat, used in folk medicine, is of value to humans. This animal is hunted mainly with the help of dogs.

It is thanks to the beneficial properties of badger fat that breeding of badgers has become profitable business. In captivity, these animals live 4-6 years longer than in the wild.

The beast is easily tamed, but never gets along with dogs.

Video

How to find a badger hole in the forest, you will learn from our video.