Where does the badger live on what continent. Badger common. Badger lifestyle and nutrition
Signs of "permanent", or, "wintering", badger burrows ("towns", "burrows"): they necessarily have several exits ("otnorks"); packed trails of approaches (at least one very well-marked); it is regularly cleaned, the old bedding from the "boiler" and crumbled soil from the transitions are raked out; they have a gutter in front of the main entrance (sometimes quite high - in old, perennial ones); in autumn, before the badger sets in for the winter, there are areas of “mowed” grass or heaps of dry leaves, traces of dragging nearby; in the spring, next to the entrance, koloboks or rolls of grass are the remains of “plugs” (“plugs”), exactly the same can be seen at the burrows and late autumn 1-3 days before the occurrence of the badger; "toilet" - (hole in the ground) at a distance of 20-75 meters from the town.
Signs of “temporary burrows” (“daytime”) burrows: the presence of a “toilet” is the only reliable sign of the presence of a temporary burrow, and therefore it is much more difficult to search for them.
The badger never makes a toilet anywhere, but only near the holes, most often near the path in the direction of the main "hikes" towards feeding (fields of grain crops, wet places, etc.). He leads sedentary life, has one permanent, "native", place for wintering.
He can change it only in force majeure circumstances: flooding or damage to burrows by humans, significant depletion of the food supply within a radius of 2-3 km (clearing down forests “to zero”, fires, swamping or flooding, etc.).
But even in these cases, he regularly checks his former "lands" and holes and returns if the situation has improved. The young of the next generations may also settle there. With strong seasonal pressure from people and livestock (mushroom berry gardens, mobile apiaries, transhumance grazing, etc.), badgers sometimes leave such holes for the entire “summer” season, especially if it is difficult to dig a new town in this area (close unpaved water, frequent water fluctuations in reservoirs, "heavy" soil, etc.).
Often they move from one makeshift burrow to another (that's why there are more toilets than badgers) and return to their "native" burrow only immediately before they lie down. More than once I observed that, even starting to clean the hole and prepare fresh bedding, the badger went to temporary shelters during the day: it seemed that he worked at night, and the dogs showed that it was empty. And so on until the cold.
If a badger toilet with fresh “contents” is found, and there is no town (burrow) nearby, then you need to look for a day-time burrow (temporary hut). It is difficult to find such burrows: they do not have pronounced paths, large ejections of soil at the entrance, visible from afar, often so overgrown with grass and undergrowth that you can only see the entrance while squatting. But they are very promising in terms of hunting.
It is better to start the search from the toilet: try to determine the direction of the path (there will be feeding places in one direction, a hole in the other). If the path is lost, first of all, you need to try to choose and inspect the most likely places within a radius of up to 50-75 meters: the slopes of hillocks, artificial hills, under large trees with a crown to the ground, dense thickets near big trees among small forests, ravines, etc.
On the open places the paths to the hole are clearly visible in the morning, while the dew is holding, and especially if there is frost. Well, the last option - moving in a spiral, starting from the toilet, methodically inspect the entire surface to the ground within a radius of up to 75 meters. A dog of any breed can be of great help in the search (burrows only on a leash!) - wet grass keeps the smell well, and the shallow depth of temporary huts allows you to smell the animal in the hole.
The best time to search for new and check old burrows is early spring, when the snow has already melted, the burrows are being cleaned by the beast, throwing out “plugs” and old nesting litter. The grass has not grown yet, and burrows, and fresh heaps of earth, and debris are clearly visible from afar.
It is good to combine the search for holes with the collection of mushrooms - both the feeding places of the badger and mushrooms are most often found in places with high humidity, which is apparently associated with more abundant and juicy vegetation here and, consequently, with a large number of "roots" and "worm bugs".
Whenever I see a badger digging, I make sure to check for holes in all suitable places nearby. Often burrows are in dense thickets of bird cherry, I don’t know the reasons, but the badger eats its fallen berries very willingly, and in early autumn the pits of the toilets are filled with bones.
The relief of the area where badgers live is very diverse: from swampy lowlands with oxbow lakes and streams to rather high hills, from taiga to forest-steppe. Wintering burrows are also found on slopes (multilevel, more than 3 meters deep), and on flat areas, and on the slopes of ravines, and even on islands and near oxbow lakes (with a depth of no more than a meter!
I often meet in different sources statements about the attachment of the badger to water bodies, even about the paths to the watering place, where, supposedly, it is necessary to guard or set traps. In our area, I don’t notice any “binding” of badger holes to water bodies, moreover, 25-30 percent of holes do not have close water bodies at all. I’m not talking about “paths to a watering place” - I have never met!
I don’t connect the badger’s resettlement with the fields of grain crops, on the contrary, many fields are abandoned and overgrown with weeds, but the badger has not become smaller there.
But the emergence of more and more farms engaged in animal husbandry has become catastrophic for the badger population! Within a radius of 1-2 km from these farms, the badger disappeared completely, even towns with a 40-50-year history were empty.
As, however, roe deer, hares, partridges, black grouse disappeared and only foxes remained. I connect this, on the one hand, with the competition of freely roaming sheep and pigs, and, on the other hand, to a greater extent, with the loose keeping of dogs. Look for a badger here is not worth it.
When the badger hibernates. The hibernation time of a badger depends only on the weather, and the main criterion is the inability to feed. It can repeatedly fall and melt snow (this happens most often), but until the onset of stable cold weather, until the soil surface freezes so much that it stops thawing during the day, the animal does not lie down.
At the first early frosts ("matinees"), it often feeds during the day - a convenient time for hunting with dogs. He does not feed only in rainy weather - he does not like dampness, but on the next clear night he leaves earlier and returns later. By the time it hibernates, its weight has more than doubled!
Interestingly, the badger always very accurately anticipates the "forecast" of the weather and prepares in advance. For 1-3 weeks, it cleans the nesting chamber (boiler) and transitions - rakes out excess land. Then, always in dry weather, "mows" and drags armfuls of grass, dry leaves or moss (less often) to the hole - for bedding in the boiler. Paths of trampled grass towards the burrows are clearly visible during this period. Then, just before the occurrence, for 2-5 days it drags "koloboks" or "rolls" (usually from grass) to plug the exits from the wintering camp.
Badger or common badger is predatory mammal an animal that is a representative of the Kunih family. Animal badger - amazing creation, which combines unusual appearance, complaisant nature and considerable economic benefits. Below you will find a photo and description of badgers, you can learn a lot of interesting and new things about this forest animal.
What does a badger look like?
The badger looks like a medium-sized animal. An ordinary badger has a body length of 60 to 90 cm and a weight of up to 24 kg, while its tail is 20-25 cm long. Males are somewhat larger than females. The badger looks massive, thanks to the peculiar structure of the body. The animal badger has an elongated body shape resembling a wedge facing forward.
At European badger narrow elongated muzzle with round brilliant eyes and a very short neck. The animal badger has short, strong paws, on the fingers of which there are long claws to dig holes.
The badger looks fluffy because of the long coat, which is quite harsh. Under the main fur of the European badger is a warm and dense undercoat. The hair of the common badger is gray or brown, often with a silvery sheen, and Bottom part body is almost black.
Badger looks rather unusual. Its white muzzle has two broad dark stripes that run from its nose to small, white-tipped ears. In winter, the badger looks lighter than in summer, when its coat takes on darker shades. In autumn, the badger is gaining to his normal weight 10 kg fat before hibernation. During this period, the badger looks especially large.
Where does the badger live?
The badger lives in almost the entire territory of Europe, with the exception of only the north of Finland and the Scandinavian Peninsula, since it does not live on freezing soils. Also, the animal badger lives in Asia Minor and Western Asia, in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia.
The badger lives in mixed and taiga forests. Sometimes badgers live in mountain ranges, they are also found in semi-deserts and steppes. The badger lives near bodies of water and sticks to dry areas, avoiding flooded areas.
The badger's home is his hole. Badgers live in deep burrows that they dig on the slopes of gullies, ravines and hills, high banks of rivers or lakes. The badger lives by spending most of its time in a burrow. The common badger is a permanent and conservative animal, therefore habitable badger burrows are passed down from generation to generation.
In areas where there is an abundance of food, different families of badgers can form an entire city of badgers by combining their holes with each other. Each subsequent generation of badgers completes the construction of holes, breaking through new passages and expanding the family estate. So badger burrows turn into an underground city with dozens of exits.
Lonely badgers live in simple burrows; such a badger's house has one entrance and a nesting chamber. But a large family of badgers lives in entire settlements. The city of badgers is a complex and multi-tiered underground structure with many inlets and ventilation holes, with long tunnels, various passages and several nesting chambers. Nest chambers are usually at least 5 meters deep, spacious and lined with dry grass bedding.
Badgers arrange nesting chambers so that rain or groundwater does not seep through. The common badger is a practical animal and loves comfort. Therefore, comfortable and dry badger burrows are often occupied by foxes and raccoon dogs. This is not simple life at the badger.
In addition, the animal badger is a rare clean-up that regularly cleans the hole, throwing out garbage and periodically replacing the old bedding. Even the animal badger arranges a toilet outside the hole or allocates a special place in it. Also in the badger's hole there are various rooms for the household needs of the animal.
The life of a badger is peaceful, so the animal badger has almost no enemies in nature. The threat to him can be wolves and lynxes. But the main danger to the European badger is man. In some cases, human economic activity leads to an improvement in the conditions for the habitat of badgers. But on the other hand, the network of roads built in natural areas increases the mortality of this animal and deprives it of its natural habitats. Most harm to badger populations is caused by a person who destroys badger burrows. The badger's home is very important for the animal.
The badger is listed in the International Red Book under the status of "Least Threatened". After all, this beast is quite common and has stable populations. But the badger is hunted in order to obtain its healing fat, which is widely used in alternative medicine. In Europe, the badger was subjected to global destruction as a carrier of dangerous diseases.
Badger numbers have declined significantly in areas that are actively economic activity. This has led to the loss of badger habitats, besides, it is destroyed as a "pest" of crops. However, from common badger more good than harm, because it eats many agricultural pests.
What does a badger eat and how does it live?
The badger lives, showing activity mainly at night. But it can often be found during daylight hours, in the early morning or late afternoon. The animal badger is quite noisy, it sniffs loudly, makes various sounds and moves slowly. Badgers have poor eyesight. But on the other hand, the animal badger has a well-developed sense of smell and good hearing, which helps him navigate.
The common badger is not naturally aggressive. When meeting with a predator or a person, the animal badger prefers to retreat to cover. But in anger, the European badger bites the offender and hits with his nose, after which he flees. However, the main male in the badger family very zealously guards the family plot from strangers.
The badger eats quite diversely and is practically omnivorous, but prefers animal food. The badger feeds on various mouse-like rodents, lizards, frogs, birds and their eggs. The badger also feeds on earthworms, insects and their larvae, mollusks. The badger eats berries, mushrooms, nuts and grass.
When hunting, the badger travels considerable distances, examines fallen trees to find various insects and earthworms. For one hunt, the animal badger gets up to 70 frogs and several hundred insects. But a badger eats only 0.5 kg of food per day, which is quite enough for him. Only closer to autumn, the badger begins to fatten up and eat off to survive hibernation.
The animal badger is the only representative of the mustelid family that hibernates in winter. For example, the stoat does not hibernate at all. In cold areas, hibernation of badgers begins in mid-autumn and lasts until spring. But in warm areas with mild winters, he does not sleep all year round.
Animal badger is an active environment transducer in the animal world. Badger burrows affect the soil and the organisms that live in it. In addition, often the badger's hole serves as housing for other species of animals, where you can breed or simply escape from the weather.
The European badger is a carrier of diseases dangerous to humans and domestic animals. It carries rabies and tuberculosis cattle. To control these diseases, most often reduce the number of animals, by exterminating and destroying their homes. Now in Europe they vaccinate animals in vivo to control the spread of rabies.
Sometimes the animal badger creates storage in fields, gardens or under buildings, which causes conflict between the animal and the person. A significant part of the diet of the European badger is made up of various pests of forestry and agriculture. For example, a badger feeds on the larvae of the cockchafer.
The skin of a badger is of little value. Since wool is very hard, its hair is used in the manufacture of brushes for painting. But badger fat has remarkable healing properties, in connection with which the animal is fiercely pursued by hunters.
Badgers are monogamous and often form pairs on long years or even for life. The mating season for the European badger begins at the end of winter and continues until September. Educated couples have been preparing a nesting chamber since autumn, in which badgers should be born.
Pregnancy in a female has an extended period and its duration depends on the time at which mating took place. Therefore, a female can bear cubs of a badger from 9 to 14 months. Most often, from 2 to 6 badger cubs are born.
In Europe, badgers are born from December to April, and in Russia - in March-April. Badger cubs are born blind, deaf and helpless. Only at the age of 1.5 months do badger cubs begin to see clearly and begin to hear. The mother feeds badgers with milk for almost 3 months.
But very soon the badger cubs are already beginning to come out of the hole and eat on their own. By the age of 6 months, badger cubs almost reach the size of adults. In autumn, the brood breaks up. After that, each badger begins an independent life.
Females become capable of breeding at the age of two years, and males - by three years of age. In nature, a badger lives 10-12 years, and in captivity, a badger's life expectancy reaches 16 years.
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This animal is widely distributed, but it is not so easy to see it. Again, almost everyone knows what a badger looks like. Let's get to know this animal in more detail. Belonging to the marten family, he has a number of peculiar habits.
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 leads night image life, so his eyesight is poorly developed, and his hearing and sense of smell are very good. During the day it mostly sleeps for night hunting.
Most An animal spends its life in a hole, which, being an excellent digger, builds, repairs and renews itself. These animals can live alone or in families.
In the simplest version 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, so that these chambers are always dry and warm. 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 such pests as the larvae of the May beetle, bears, rodents, brings great benefits to the forest 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 traditional medicine. This animal is hunted mainly with the help of dogs.
Thanks to useful properties badger fat breeding badgers has become a profitable business. In captivity, these animals live 4-6 years longer than in wild nature.
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.
Badgers live in Europe, Crimea, Central Asia, in the Caucasus and the Far East.
They prefer to settle near water bodies in dry areas in mixed taiga forests, less often they can be found in the mountains and steppes.
He has a dense muscular body, up to one meter long, short legs with blunt claws.
The claws are very strong, the fingers are thick - this is an excellent adaptation to dig the ground. The muzzle is elongated, the neck is short, the ears and eyes are small.
The length of the tail is not more than 25 cm, and the animal weighs from 20 to 24 kilograms. Before hibernation, he accumulates fat, then his weight reaches 34 kg.
The coat is coarse, the color is brown-gray, the abdomen and paws are black. There are two black stripes on the white muzzle, the tail is white.
Animals live in colonies in one large "burrow". There are dozens of passages in such a hole, and cozy nesting chambers are located on three floors, up to three meters. There are also spare holes, pantries. The badger's house is clean, he regularly changes the bedding, and he goes to the toilet along the path to the same place not far from the house.
The lifestyle of this species is nocturnal. It feeds on earthworms, lizards, and eggs. Do not mind eating nuts, berries and mushrooms. Grass eats regularly. He eats only half a kilo of food a day. But by winter, it actively accumulates fat, which is useful in hibernation.
burrow badger photo
He also makes stocks, brings seeds, acorns, roots and even frogs, probably dried, to the pantry. Hearing and sense of smell are well developed, vision is slightly worse, the animals are short-sighted.
Pregnancy lasts from 271 to 450 days, depending on the season. Up to 6 blind babies are born. They are helpless, with sparse white hair on their bodies. Eyes open after 35 days. They eat mother's rich nutritious milk.
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 the wild. 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 tassels. white color. 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, the average weight is 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. The badger is nocturnal, and sleeps during the day after hunting. The animal spends most of its life in a hole, which it builds and periodically updates. In the simplest version, the hole 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 a 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 many 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, molluscs, larvae.
Favorite badger food - earthworms. He can eat them every day large quantities and therefore does not require much 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 life expectancy of an animal in nature is 10-12 years, but in captivity it is somewhat longer (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.
- You can not write off the accounts and poachers who hunt for badger fat, used in traditional medicine.
- Animals die from infectious diseases.
Breeders are breeding badgers. This is 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 of extinction. 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 publishes shout, calls on the help of 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 harm 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.