scottishbadgers
bringing together scotland's badger groups
Scottish Badger Natural History
Our badger, (the European Badger latin name Meles meles), holds a special place in our natural history. Since the bear, wolf and lynx were purged from our islands in a bid to make our land and livestock safe, the badger is now our largest carnivore and top of it's food chain.
It's average weight varies from 7.25 kgs in spring to 14.4 kgs in autumn, and measures just under a meter in length, nose to tail. They can live quite a long life, over 15 years much like a domestic dog, in favourable circumstances. In Britain they have no natural predators and their only threat is man and his activities. In the south of England populations are at their greatest while in Scotland their frequency varies from common to scarce the further north you go, and as the altitude increases and the availability of food decreases.
Nocturnal
An extraordinary sense of smell, excellent hearing, poor eyesight, just the job for an animal that spends the daytime below ground sleeping, and coming out only at night to feed. A creature better designed for making its home underground cannot be found! It's body is low slung with short legs, and has spade like feet with very long claws, perfect for digging hundreds of meters of underground tunnels. It's elongated body is flexible and yet muscular, especially around the neck and shoulders.
Underground
Their underground homes are constructed of tunnels and chambers, generally excavated in soft sandy type soil. Their tunnels are normally around a meter below ground but can be much deeper and can stretch to distances of over 10 meters from the entrance. The entrances are quite distinct, a hole which is approximately 300mm diameter and which is slightly wider than tall, and with a platform of soil mixed with old bedding immediately outside. Fox holes are noticeably smaller and slightly taller than wide, and will often stink! There will be well worn connecting tracks in evidence at an active sett. The badger will spend hours digging out fresh earth spoil from its sett, a sort of continual home improvements plan. It would seem as if they were never satisfied with the finished article, but it is more likely that they are simply de-lousing their many sleeping and living quarters - a regular and necessary activity to control unwanted house guests such as ticks and lice! Digging activity can cause problems to ground stability. Chambers are often excavated under some sort of solid structure, such as a large rock or the roots of trees, causing them to be easily blown over, and the founds of buildings are also at risk for the same reasons.
Home
The badger was essentially a woodland creature, but over the centuries the large expanses of deciduous woodlands which were once home have disappeared leaving badgers to make their homes in a variety of places including old drains, underneath out-houses, in rotten tree trunks and between rocks and boulders.
More typically their setts are excavated in soft sandy soil and are in proximity of a good supply of food and bedding materials in some quiet and relatively undisturbed area. Occasionally they can be found living quite happily completely surrounded by suburbia and all the disturbance that situation brings. Badger territories, the area of land collectively defended by a clan, are determined by the quality and quantity of foraging in any given area. Good quality - small territory, poor quality - large territory.
Family Life
Badgers live in structured societies called clans - a type of extended family including mums, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, cousins, grandchildren, the occasional stranger and so on. Family relations may cover several generations. Within the clan there is a distinct hierarchy which has at the top a dominant boar and a dominant sow, then all the subordinate rankings right down to the lowliest and latest arrivals. Each has a position to keep and are constantly reminded of it by regular physical interactions with other members. Regular sessions of mutual grooming, scenting, play fighting and mating behaviour keeps order intact. When a position becomes vacant by some clan member disappearing or when a superior rank becomes unable to physically hold it's position, fighting throughout the clan breaks out until new positions are settled. This can take days or even months to settle and can result in horrific and sometimes fatal injuries.
Breeding
Mating takes place throughout the year but surprisingly cubs are generally all born in early spring, around mid to late February. A trick of nature known as delayed implantation is responsible, the fertilized egg develops into a blastocyst which isn't fully implanted into the uterus until mid winter when badger activity is at its lowest.Young cubs are born in the early spring and stay underground for the first eight weeks or so until they make their first sorties out into the wide world, staying close to mum for these first few weeks at the end of spring, learning the tricks of the trade. Anywhere between one and five cubs are born (normally three or four), but many will not see their first birthday. Badger life is hard for a youngster, cold, disease, malnutrition and physical attack are real possibilities in the early days, and then if they survive those first trials there is road traffic and human activities to deal with later. It is estimated that less than 50% get to their second year.
Growing Up
Having made it to adulthood, other perils await. Territory has to be defended, which means travelling great distances and crossing roads over and over again, often several times a night marking boundaries with scent and dung pits . Positions and ranks have to be kept within the clan. Setts have to be maintained. Food has to be found in all seasons, unpredictable as they are. And then there are man's activities to be contended with - dogs, disturbance, intensive agricultural practices, developments, traffic, conflicts with shepherds, gamekeepers, and gardeners to name a few. The badger has no natural predators (which in itself is unnatural) and has only man to fear, and generally speaking it is through ignorance rather than design that most persecution occurs.
Conflicts
The European Badger is found from our furthest west coast clear across to the east coast of Japan. The worlds greatest concentrations of this essentially woodland creature are to be found in the south west of the British Isles where modern agricultural practices have inadvertently created a rich badger habitat. Cattle pastures managed for dairy and beef herds provide a rich feeding ground for badgers, but the close contact between cattle in stock sheds, between badgers in setts, and the interaction between cattle and badgers in pastures provides an ideal scenario for the quick spread of disease. Consequently they are in conflict with our cattle farming industry, involving the transmission of Bovine TB. Culling the badger population in problem areas has been the method of control up to now although research by the Department of Food Environment and Rural affairs ( DEFRA ) into this problem is on going.
Less obvious are the problems land use developments which are going on all around us bring. Changes in farming and estate fortunes and new market demands mean diversification of land uses. Landscape development, new housing, recreational development, new buildings, high tech industries with maximum security (and wildlife proof) fences, new access roads, loss of foraging areas, destruction of habitat and ancestral territory. In severe cases badger clan territories are squeezed down to unviable levels necessitating ranging further than normal to forage and often over busy roads and eventually to death. It is estimated that road traffic accidents account for up to 30% of badger mortalities. Insensitive developments do much more damage to wildlife than first thought which is where knowledge of clans, territories, foraging areas, and in fact all wildlife movement are most important.
Endangered?
In the UK badgers are not an endangered species by any means, in fact we have very healthy population numbers at present but they, and much more of our natural heritage face considerable disregard and resultant abuse and persecution. Sterling work goes on in the conservation field to achieve a greater understanding of the behaviour and distribution of these and other British wildlife species, carried out by professional and volunteer bodies alike. The major part of badger monitoring work needed to sustain an up to date account of the badger status is carried out by the voluntary sector whose skills range from 'field expert' to 'weekend enthusiast'. You can help by using the "forms" to send any badger information you have directly to where it will be put to good use.
Our badger, (the European Badger latin name Meles meles), holds a special place in our natural history. Since the bear, wolf and lynx were purged from our islands in a bid to make our land and livestock safe, the badger is now our largest carnivore and top of it's food chain.
It's average weight varies from 7.25 kgs in spring to 14.4 kgs in autumn, and measures just under a meter in length, nose to tail. They can live quite a long life, over 15 years much like a domestic dog, in favourable circumstances. In Britain they have no natural predators and their only threat is man and his activities. In the south of England populations are at their greatest while in Scotland their frequency varies from common to scarce the further north you go, and as the altitude increases and the availability of food decreases.
Nocturnal
An extraordinary sense of smell, excellent hearing, poor eyesight, just the job for an animal that spends the daytime below ground sleeping, and coming out only at night to feed. A creature better designed for making its home underground cannot be found! It's body is low slung with short legs, and has spade like feet with very long claws, perfect for digging hundreds of meters of underground tunnels. It's elongated body is flexible and yet muscular, especially around the neck and shoulders.
Underground
Their underground homes are constructed of tunnels and chambers, generally excavated in soft sandy type soil. Their tunnels are normally around a meter below ground but can be much deeper and can stretch to distances of over 10 meters from the entrance. The entrances are quite distinct, a hole which is approximately 300mm diameter and which is slightly wider than tall, and with a platform of soil mixed with old bedding immediately outside. Fox holes are noticeably smaller and slightly taller than wide, and will often stink! There will be well worn connecting tracks in evidence at an active sett. The badger will spend hours digging out fresh earth spoil from its sett, a sort of continual home improvements plan. It would seem as if they were never satisfied with the finished article, but it is more likely that they are simply de-lousing their many sleeping and living quarters - a regular and necessary activity to control unwanted house guests such as ticks and lice! Digging activity can cause problems to ground stability. Chambers are often excavated under some sort of solid structure, such as a large rock or the roots of trees, causing them to be easily blown over, and the founds of buildings are also at risk for the same reasons.
Home
The badger was essentially a woodland creature, but over the centuries the large expanses of deciduous woodlands which were once home have disappeared leaving badgers to make their homes in a variety of places including old drains, underneath out-houses, in rotten tree trunks and between rocks and boulders. More typically their setts are excavated in soft sandy soil and are in proximity of a good supply of food and bedding materials in some quiet and relatively undisturbed area. Occasionally they can be found living quite happily completely surrounded by suburbia and all the disturbance that situation brings. Badger territories, the area of land collectively defended by a clan, are determined by the quality and quantity of foraging in any given area. Good quality - small territory, poor quality - large territory.
Family Life
Badgers live in structured societies called clans - a type of extended family including mums, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, cousins, grandchildren, the occasional stranger and so on. Family relations may cover several generations. Within the clan there is a distinct hierarchy which has at the top a dominant boar and a dominant sow, then all the subordinate rankings right down to the lowliest and latest arrivals. Each has a position to keep and are constantly reminded of it by regular physical interactions with other members. Regular sessions of mutual grooming, scenting, play fighting and mating behaviour keeps order intact. When a position becomes vacant by some clan member disappearing or when a superior rank becomes unable to physically hold it's position, fighting throughout the clan breaks out until new positions are settled. This can take days or even months to settle and can result in horrific and sometimes fatal injuries.
Breeding
Mating takes place throughout the year but surprisingly cubs are generally all born in early spring, around mid to late February. A trick of nature known as delayed implantation is responsible, the fertilized egg develops into a blastocyst which isn't fully implanted into the uterus until mid winter when badger activity is at its lowest.Young cubs are born in the early spring and stay underground for the first eight weeks or so until they make their first sorties out into the wide world, staying close to mum for these first few weeks at the end of spring, learning the tricks of the trade. Anywhere between one and five cubs are born (normally three or four), but many will not see their first birthday. Badger life is hard for a youngster, cold, disease, malnutrition and physical attack are real possibilities in the early days, and then if they survive those first trials there is road traffic and human activities to deal with later. It is estimated that less than 50% get to their second year.
Growing Up
Having made it to adulthood, other perils await. Territory has to be defended, which means travelling great distances and crossing roads over and over again, often several times a night marking boundaries with scent and dung pits . Positions and ranks have to be kept within the clan. Setts have to be maintained. Food has to be found in all seasons, unpredictable as they are. And then there are man's activities to be contended with - dogs, disturbance, intensive agricultural practices, developments, traffic, conflicts with shepherds, gamekeepers, and gardeners to name a few. The badger has no natural predators (which in itself is unnatural) and has only man to fear, and generally speaking it is through ignorance rather than design that most persecution occurs.
Conflicts
The European Badger is found from our furthest west coast clear across to the east coast of Japan. The worlds greatest concentrations of this essentially woodland creature are to be found in the south west of the British Isles where modern agricultural practices have inadvertently created a rich badger habitat. Cattle pastures managed for dairy and beef herds provide a rich feeding ground for badgers, but the close contact between cattle in stock sheds, between badgers in setts, and the interaction between cattle and badgers in pastures provides an ideal scenario for the quick spread of disease. Consequently they are in conflict with our cattle farming industry, involving the transmission of Bovine TB. Culling the badger population in problem areas has been the method of control up to now although research by the Department of Food Environment and Rural affairs ( DEFRA ) into this problem is on going.Less obvious are the problems land use developments which are going on all around us bring. Changes in farming and estate fortunes and new market demands mean diversification of land uses. Landscape development, new housing, recreational development, new buildings, high tech industries with maximum security (and wildlife proof) fences, new access roads, loss of foraging areas, destruction of habitat and ancestral territory. In severe cases badger clan territories are squeezed down to unviable levels necessitating ranging further than normal to forage and often over busy roads and eventually to death. It is estimated that road traffic accidents account for up to 30% of badger mortalities. Insensitive developments do much more damage to wildlife than first thought which is where knowledge of clans, territories, foraging areas, and in fact all wildlife movement are most important. Endangered?
In the UK badgers are not an endangered species by any means, in fact we have very healthy population numbers at present but they, and much more of our natural heritage face considerable disregard and resultant abuse and persecution. Sterling work goes on in the conservation field to achieve a greater understanding of the behaviour and distribution of these and other British wildlife species, carried out by professional and volunteer bodies alike. The major part of badger monitoring work needed to sustain an up to date account of the badger status is carried out by the voluntary sector whose skills range from 'field expert' to 'weekend enthusiast'. You can help by using the "forms" to send any badger information you have directly to where it will be put to good use.
Badgers Natural History
"An extraordinary sense of smell, excellent hearing, poor eyesight...."
Contact Scottish Badgers
Use our online form or telephone: 01356 624851 (not permanently manned), or write to Scottish Badgers, 13, Eddie Avenue, Brechin, DD9 6YD
Scottish Badger Cruelty Line
Scottish badger cruelty line - 0870 240 4832. Please telephone to report badger cruelty. Up to £1000 reward for tip offs leading to conviction.
Want to get involved?
There are many organisations concerned with conserving our wildlife, check out the links, news and forum pages, or click here to contact the local badger groups, or join Scottish Badgers
Scottish Natural Heritage - sponsors of this website... 'Working with Scotland's people to care for our natural heritage',