Badger - description, habitat, lifestyle

The badger belongs to the family of gunies, but in many respects it differs from its relatives, and in general the beast is quite interesting.

Description

If we describe the body as a whole, then it has a wedge-shaped form that reaches the largest size in the back and tapers smoothly towards the head. The neck is still more or less large and quite thick, but the head is very narrow with small ears.

The tail is approximately equal in length to the head (about 20 centimeters or a little less). Paws - strong and muscular. The surface of the feet is bare, there are long and strong claws.

The badgers are no longer than 80 centimeters in length, and the weight changes throughout the year. For example, in spring the badger weighs about 10 kilograms, and by the fall (when it is necessary to go for the winter) it reaches up to 30 kg.

If you describe the appearance as a whole, then it is large and squat, and the typical movement to match this appearance.Badger rather smoothly and slowly goes through the forest, almost crawling and clinging to the ground. Only when there is a danger or need to solve some problem of rapid movement, it can develop high speed and move in leaps.

On the back and sides of the beast is coarse and hard fur, which differs from rather sparse and short hair on the abdomen. The tail is pretty fluffy. Also noteworthy is the beautiful color of badger fur, which consists of a light silver color and black neck, chest and legs.

Every year, the leopard molts, starting in spring and completing this process in late autumn. During the summer, lower, sparse and coarse fur appears, which acquires brownish-yellow shades.

Spread

• European (Central Russian);
• Siberian;
• Caspian;
• Amur;
• Kazakhstani.

The most favorable habitats are island forests, which alternate with meadows and fields. It is quite rare for a badger to appear in coniferous forests, but it also happens there, although there is much less food there. It is possible to assess the suitability of the habitat for the badger by the main features.

1. Forest, overgrown shrubs, which can live badger.
2. Conditions for digging, requires optimal conditions that allow burrowing.
3. The proximity of water, badgers like ponds and running water, which are relevant to everyday life.

The forest provides badgers to everyone. He is a refuge, food source and many others.

Biology

As said earlier, the badger is looking for where there are opportunities to create holes. This fact is caused by the way this animal lives, it prefers a semi-underground lifestyle. Nora the badger chooses so that there is water nearby and the ability to secretly approach her.

Regarding which area this beast prefers, there are different opinions, and in fact the issue has not been fully studied. It should be reliably said about the main range, which is about half a kilometer from the hole itself, then the badger is rarely chosen.If the territory provides a lot of food, then different families of badgers can live there.

In addition to the burrows, the following facts should be said:

1. Badger is quite industrious and independent, he does not use the fruits of other people's labor and digs holes for himself, but his animals are other animals, in particular foxes and raccoon dogs.
2. The most preferred spaces for digging holes are the slopes of ravines and river terraces.
3. He prefers dry and sandy soil or a mixture of sand, one way or another, he needs a soil that is easily digging and has a deep groundwater table.
4. Nora is a whole system that includes many moves and exits.
5. If the hole is made qualitatively, then more than one generation of the badger family can live there; they have lived there for decades.
6. Over the years, the network of moves and the number of "rooms" in the badger hole increases, a large and extensive burrow is called an ancient settlement.
7. The typical burrow exit is arch-shaped and has a length of up to ten meters.
8. Somewhere at the depth of a meter underground, there is a nesting chamber, which has a gentle litter of foliage and grass.
9. Badger is engaged in the arrangement of the burrow for the most part in the fall.

After describing the home of a badger, it is quite logical to proceed to the description of its food. He prefers the most varied food and his diet is a combination of animal and vegetable food. In addition, food is seasonal, that is, in simple terms, depends on what nature can please for a certain period of the year.

From animal food should be noted:

• mouse voles;
• small birds;
• frogs and other amphibians;
• lizards and other reptiles;
• worms, bugs and other insects.

Vegetable foods are for the most part:

• roots and greens of various plants;
• berries and fruits;
• nuts.

In addition, the badger does not hesitate to go to the fields of farmland. There, for the most part looking for oats and corn.

Basically badger is a night predator. He sleeps in the afternoon, and when dusk sets in, he goes on his own business. During the day, he may also get out of the hole, but prefers not to depart far from the shelter.

Oriented for the most part thanks to the scent. Eyesight and hearing are not particularly developed.

Generally a badger should be called a homebody,since for several months in a row, it practically does not come out of the hole, and in the other periods of the year, badgers sit a lot along the holes, and external movements are associated with holes.

Special mention deserves badger fat, which has a mass of healing properties. Badger begins to get fat in the fall and gets about 4-5 centimeters of fat and, as mentioned earlier, adds a total of about 20 kilograms. Due to its fat, the badger can not leave the hole, by October it lays the ground moves and falls into winter sleep. Hibernation period depends on the region of habitat. For example, in the south the badger just waits for the cold, and in the north it can lie down in a hole from October to May.

In fact, the badger does not hibernate in the strict sense of the word; if to speak in simple words, it simply rests in a light suspended animation. The temperature drops only to 34 degrees and, if there is a thaw on the street, then it may well go for a walk.

Breeding

After wintering, the beast comes out of the mink and begins to clean its home, prepare for the birth of young badger. Badger families are monogamous, that is, they choose one partner with whom they remain in the family for many years.Mating is not tied to the time of year, unless in the cold period they do not mate for obvious reasons.

Pregnancy is quite long and the periods can vary from 8 to 15 months, since the pregnancy has a latent stage, that is, it can practically stop for a period and then continue again. Juveniles always appear in the spring and have from 2 to 6 individuals. It takes about four weeks for young young badgers to wait for their eyes to open and teeth to appear.

After 12 weeks after birth, young young badgers begin to crawl out of the mink and gradually settle. It is during this period that they begin to create new pairs.

Badger behavior

Since they move for the most part only at dusk, the indicator that lets you know the badger is sound. They are noisy quite active, unlike many other fans of the dark period of the day, and almost no lurking.

Of the visual signs, the most obvious are the trails that lead from minks for many meters and even hundreds of meters. Such minks do not change over the years and lead to watering, feeding and other significant objects.In addition, badgers leave behind the digging, which are associated with the search for food.

Traces that even an inexperienced person can easily identify are quite easily found on wet soil. These tracks are like a miniature bear paw. The badger moves rather slowly, and therefore it is easy to see it.

The most significant harm and the main impact on the population is people. The human factor is mostly in the destruction of badger settlements.

Here it should be noted and especially emphasize the benefits of badgers for the ecosystem, since it is they who are engaged in the destruction of various carrion, insects and rodents. Therefore, the extraction of badgers is subject to close monitoring and uncontrolled activity in this direction leads to a significant deterioration of the forest ecosystem. At the same time, badgers are highly valued for their excellent fat, which is comparable to bearish fat and provides tremendous benefits.

Badger fat has not only high nutritional value, but is also actively used in medicine. In particular, it is used for various heating, treatment of joints. The fur of these animals has practically no value.

Video: Badger (Meles meles)