To which group does the badger belong? The animal badger is an unusual inhabitant of the forest. Description and photo of the common badger. Distribution and habitats

The badger is a widespread mammal of the mustelid genus. There are several subspecies of these animals. The largest - ordinary or european badger.

Almost all of Europe, with the exception of the coldest territories, as well as the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Crimea and part of Asia, acts as a habitat for the badger. The animal prefers the forest strip, forest-steppe, mountains. The range partially overlaps with the territory of the Asian badger, which leads to their crossing.

Appearance

What does a badger look like? It is difficult to confuse it with another animal. Appearance has several features. The body of a European representative of the species reaches 90 cm in length and 30 cm at the withers. Females are traditionally slightly smaller male individuals. The body is massive with short, wide, stable paws with long strong claws and a small wedge-shaped head. Weight reaches about 20 kilograms. However, it depends on the time of year. Closer to winter, the animal deposits fat before hibernation. Its layer can be 4-5 cm thick, the weight increases by 1.5 times. People often hunt for badger fat because of its healing properties. The tail of the animal is quite short up to 25 cm, but fluffy. In the photo the animal before wintering.

The first thing that catches your eye in the photo of a badger is the color of its head. The muzzle of the European badger with small round ears has a characteristic coloration with 2 wide black stripes on a light gray background and distinguishes it from other subspecies:

• Asian;
• Far Eastern;
• American;
• Japanese.

The back has a color in grayish-beige tones, often with a noble silvery coating. The belly is much darker, almost black. The summer outfit of the beast is somewhat different from the winter one, it is shorter and has a beige undertone. The wool is tough, it protects the beast not only from bad weather and more large predators but also from man. Badger fur has little value.

Cubs are born blind and do not have such a characteristic coat as adults. They begin to emerge from the hole only after 3 months. How the cubs look can be seen in the photo.

diet

What does a badger eat? The diet of the animal is very extensive and varied. It includes:

• animal components (rodents, snakes, small birds, snails);
• vegetable components (mushrooms, berries, roots, herbs).

Delicacy are insects, larvae, worms. The animal can swim and uses this skill to catch fish and frogs.

The specific menu depends on the habitat and season. Although the badger is considered a predator, if the area is rich in fruits, the beast may well satisfy the appetite only with them and not waste energy on hunting for more mobile food.

Each badger has its own territory. After the Sunset he gets out of an underground hole, slowly bypasses the site, examines trees, stumps, grass, picking up everything edible. The animal moves through the forest quite noisily, which is associated with the structure of the paws. The animal steps on the whole foot. From the photo of the tracks, you can see that they resemble the print of a bear's paw.

The benefit of the badger is that it can eat some pests. Agriculture. But the beast is not averse to feeding on the harvest of farmers, especially legumes and corn.

Before hibernation, the animal makes supplies so as not to remain hungry in the spring after waking up. Even with a shortage of food, the badger does not touch the carrion and remnants of the meal of other animals.

Burrows

Where does the badger live? The home for the beast is an underground hole. He responsibly approaches the choice of a place for its construction. Most often it is the slope of a ravine or a beam. Important is the presence of a nearby reservoir and the composition of the soil. The animal takes into account the risk of flooding an underground house, focusing on the occurrence of groundwater. The badger hole is clearly visible in the photo.

These animals are real architects. They do not just know how to dig holes using long, slightly curved claws on their front paws, but build entire underground cities for their families with galleries, specialized rooms for sleeping, storing supplies, separate latrines, multiple entrances, and a ventilation system. Over time, new generations contribute, adding corridors and rooms. The floor of the dwellings is lined with dry grass and regularly updated.

forest animals- foxes and raccoon dogs - appreciate the underground houses of badgers and are not averse to living there.

Behavioral Features

How does the animal behave in natural environment a habitat? The badger, a representative of the nocturnal fauna, leaves the dwelling no earlier than dusk. In this regard, its key senses are smell and hearing. Vision is developed somewhat worse. During the day, the beast spends time underground. In the cold season falls into hibernation, but during the thaw period it can wake up and go outside. In animals from warmer regions, hibernation is shorter.

Badgers are conservative, they live in one territory for a long time. They are monogamous, create a single pair and often live in families consisting of several generations. Mom takes care of the babies, and feeds them with milk for up to 3 months. In nature, there are loners who build a separate hole for themselves, preferring to live away from relatives.

Badgers are clean, they constantly keep order in the hole and around it, take care of their fur. They do not like to rush and move rather slowly with their heads down. The animal is not aggressive; when meeting predators and other dangers, it prefers an avoidance strategy. In a critical situation, he can stand up for himself.

Life expectancy up to 12 years, and in captivity - up to 16. It is rare to meet a badger in the natural environment because of its lifestyle, but it is often an inhabitant of zoos.

Genus: Meles Brisson, 1762 = Badgers

mating season in badgers in the middle latitudes of Europe, apparently, falls on the second half of summer: the end of July and August.

Badgers are monogamous, their pairs form in autumn, but mating and fertilization occur at different times, and therefore the duration of pregnancy, which has a long latent stage, changes. With summer mating, the gestation period is 271-284 days, with early spring mating - up to 365 days, with winter mating - 420-450 days.

With the onset of the mating period, an increased functioning of the prianal gland is noted, which secretes a liquid with a pungent odor and is located at the base of the tail in a skin fold. Therefore, at this time, in all badgers, the hair under the tail is colored bright yellow from the abundantly secreted secret, which, being indoors, its specific smell is felt, but in some cases mating in badgers can occur in mid-July. In all likelihood, this refers to young females that did not mate in the spring. Mating can take place both inside and outside the burrow. After a long mating, the heated male hall goes into a small reservoir, and, spreading out, stays there for a long time. The time of birth of the offspring falls on the month of April.

In a badger, a long gestation period is due to the presence of a lateral stage, during which there is a delay in the development of the embryo. Due to the presence of a lateral stage in pregnancy, badgers give birth to completely helpless blind cubs, weighing 70-80 grams, which undergo a long period of development (3 months) before the start of independent life. The auricle is formed in badgers at the age of three weeks, the eyes open on the 35-42 day, the teeth begin to erupt at the age of one month. In the development of teeth in badgers, a reduction in the milk system is observed. The eruption of milk teeth, which began at the age of one month, stops, and at the age of 2.5 months, the growth of permanent teeth immediately begins. The reduction of the milk system can be associated with the duration of feeding exclusively on mother's milk and the late, but very rapid transition to independent nutrition.

Before the transition to self-feeding, individual deviations in the growth of badgers of one brood are very small, but in different broods the growth rate may be different. After the transition to self-feeding (3 months), the badgers show individual deviations in the intensity of growth, often associated with sexual dimorphism.

At the age of 4-6 months, the badgers begin a mild decrease in the intensity of growth, which is covered in weight gain due to the onset of autumn obesity. In general, self-feeding young growth grows quite quickly, and an increase in body weight in badgers is observed up to maximum weight in winter. So, weighing 2.5-3 kg in July, badgers double their weight by October, and at the time of hibernation, they already weigh about 9 kg. In their first hibernation, badgers stay with their mother in a hole.

The average weight of European badgers caught in autumn usually ranges from 20 kg, rarely 30 kg. By autumn, they accumulate 5-6 kg of fat in the body.

Females become sexually mature at the age of two. Unlike females, males become sexually mature at the age of three years, and retain their sexual activity throughout the spring-summer season.

In many European countries, a law has been adopted to protect the badger, thanks to which, at present, its number is increasing every year, although there are cases of poaching.

Badger subspecies: Meles meles meles ( Western Europe), Meles meles marianensis (Spain and Portugal), Meles meles leptorynchus (Russia), Meles meles leucurus (China, Tibet), Meles meles anaguma (Japan).

European badger, Meles meles meles (L.), the largest, skull length 10.9-12.6 cm. There are first pseudo-rooted ones; thus, in each jaw there are four false-rooted teeth. In the dark areas of the color of winter fur, black tones predominate, light areas are white or gray; admixture of yellow tones in summer fur is weak. Summer color is slightly reddish. The dark stripes on the sides of the head are wide and cover the ear. The median light stripe stretches from the forehead to the beginning, and sometimes to the middle of the neck.

Western Asian badger. M. m. canescens B1anf., much smaller in size. The length of the skull is 9.7-11.2 cm. According to the features of the skull, it is close to the European one. The coloration is paler, sometimes with a fawn tint.

The Asian badger, M. t. leptorhynchus Milne-E d w., is close in size to the European, but somewhat smaller. The length of the skull is 10.2-11.6 cm. The first pseudo-rooted ones are absent, there are three of them in each jaw. In the color of light places, yellow and yellowish tones predominate; dark areas - with more or less development of brown tones. The dark stripes on the head are narrow, covering the eyes, but either do not touch the ear at all, or capture only its upper third.

Far Eastern badger, M. t. anakuma Tern m. - the smallest, skull length 9.2-10.5 cm. Like the previous subspecies, the first pseudo-rooted ones are absent. postorbital processes. The coloration is very dark; forehead - with a large admixture of brown and brown hair; the dark coloration of the lateral longitudinal stripes on the head sometimes almost merges with the coloration of the forehead and neck.

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The 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.

The European badger has a narrow, elongated muzzle with round, shiny 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 time in the hole. 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, the comfortable and dry burrows of badgers 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, a network of built roads 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, molluscs. 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 kingdom. 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 pairs 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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Badger (Meles meles L., 1758) is a medium-sized animal, appearance not at all like their counterparts from the weasel family.

The badger is an animal of the weasel family. These animals are distinguished by an interesting character and unusual image life.

Today, their population has been significantly reduced by hunters, since badger fat is a valuable product and is expensive. Badgers are listed in the Red Book.

What does a badger look like

In comparison with other mustelids, the badger is quite distinguished large sizes. Its body is oblong, the animal can reach 90 cm in length. As a rule, females are smaller than males.

Depending on the geography of habitat, there are large and small (desert) badgers. The weight of an adult animal in summer is 10-20 kg, and by winter it reaches 20-30 kg.

The photo shows a badger in all its glory - the animal has a pointed muzzle, the hair from the nose to the ears is colored with characteristic black stripes.

The ears are small in size, with white tips, a bit like a bear's. The tail is about 20 cm. The paws are short and thick, they have impressive claws on them, they help the animal to dig the ground.

The coat of a badger is long, thick, as a rule, brown or gray, on the sides it is lighter, and by winter the whole color is completely lighter. A thick warm undercoat grows under the top layer of wool, which allows the animal to survive the cold season.

Moulting in badgers occurs gradually during spring and summer, new fur begins to grow at the very end of the summer period.

Where do badgers live

The habitat of cute animals is very wide. They are found almost throughout Europe and are found in Asia, there are several types of these representatives of mustelids - Japanese, Asian badger, American and common (European) badger.

Animals are unpretentious, can survive in a variety of climatic conditions. The main condition is the ability to dig a hole.

The most suitable habitat for a badger is a forest. Animals dig their burrows on the edges, in ravines and gullies.

Animal lifestyle

These animals spend the main part of their lives in burrows, they equip them in detail, with comfort. If the habitat is poor in food, the animals settle one by one, but usually there is no enmity between them.

If there is plenty of food, then animals can form a real settlement. First, they dig minks next to each other, and then they tie them together. underground passages. The family marks such an underground city with a special smell, it is individual for each badger family.

Each family of animals limits its lands with its own excrement - they must indicate to the stranger that the place is occupied by other individuals. As a rule, the most adult male is the main badger in the family.

A feature of the animals is that, with the ability to create colonies, they do not suffer if they have to live alone. the main role in existence is given to a well-arranged dwelling.

The mink of the beast is a whole network of tunnels with one or more chambers. Badgers carefully monitor the cleanliness in their burrows - in the main chamber, a litter of their dry grass and leaves is arranged, during the year the animals change the litter twice.

Just on a clean, warm, thick bedding, the badger will begin to sleep in the winter. Animals arrange a toilet by digging holes not far from the holes, but in no case at the entrance to the mink.

In areas where winters are cold, badgers hibernate to survive the unfavorable season in their sleep. By hibernation, animals accumulate a significant subcutaneous layer of fat - it does not allow the animals to freeze and get exhausted from hunger.

Usually hibernation begins in December, but badgers hibernate depending on the climate - the earlier it gets colder, the earlier hibernation begins, it can also occur in October-November and will continue until March-April.

If an early thaw occurs, the animal will wake up earlier and may even look out of the mink.

The badger's lifestyle is mainly nocturnal, so it is quite difficult to meet him in the forest.

What does a badger eat

This animal is omnivorous, it is able to feed itself in almost any conditions. The diet depends on the geography of habitat. A delicacy for a badger is earthworms, beetles, slugs.

From time to time, an animal can catch and eat a small rodent, a frog, a lizard. Sometimes animals destroy bird nests.

A significant part of the diet is made up of plants - roots, fruits, berries, grass and foliage. They eat badgers and mushrooms. In walnut groves, nuts are the main food. In total, the menu of these animals includes about fifty species of plants and small animals.

Where agricultural land is located, this omnivore feasts on the fields - it eats cultivated plants, legumes and corn especially enjoy his love.

The hearts of farmers are hardened by such raids on the future harvest, they justify the hunt for this beast by wrecking. At the same time, it is forgotten that the animal brings significant benefits by eating field pests - rodents and insects.

reproduction

Badgers are monogamous, they create pairs for several years, sometimes a badger pair exists until the end of the life of one of the animals.

Puberty in females occurs at the age of two years, in males - at three years. The breeding season lasts from February to October, and its peak is in September.

Pregnancy lasts 270-450 days, the female brings from 2 to 6 cubs. After a month, they develop hearing, and after 1.5 months, their eyes open.

At three months, the babies independently get out of the hole. They will grow for almost six months before they reach size. adult. And in the fall, just before the hibernation period, the brood breaks up, the adult life begins in badgers.

A quarter of newborn badgers die before they leave the hole for the first time, a third of the animals survive in natural conditions in the first 3 years - the cause of death can be predators, badgers - the subject of hunting for lynxes and wolves, as well as hunters. Badgers live, on average, 5-12 years.

In captivity, this animal can reach the age of 16. These animals are not afraid of humans and are easily tamed.

To keep such pet, a spacious enclosure should be arranged for it - a strong one, with a reinforced mesh and concrete floor, so that the animal does not dig an underground passage.

To date complete disappearance this animal is not threatened. But its population is decreasing both due to hunting and because a person occupies more and more territory. natural habitat badger, and the proximity of civilization - highways - leads to the fact that animals often die under the wheels of cars, running out of the forest. In order to preserve the species, badgers are listed in the Red Book.

Badger photo