One of the most common animals in our country is the European badger. This small animal leads a very interesting lifestyle, quite unpretentious and omnivorous. It is completely safe and not aggressive, but in recent years its population has been greatly reduced. This is due to the destruction of badgers due to fur or healthy fat. These animals need to be studied, protected and taken measures to increase their numbers. After all, the European badger brings invaluable benefits for the biocenosis of the forest and helps in the destruction of pests of agricultural plants.
The appearance of the badger
This is the largest animal in the Kunyi family. The length of his body reaches a meter, and the shape is very peculiar. This animal is massive and squat. This is how a badger looks (photo below).
Its sharp elongated muzzle turns into a short neck, and the body gradually expands to the back. The head is wedge-shaped, with a pointed elongated nose and small round ears. The legs of the badger are short and massive, with a bare plantar surface. They end with sharp and very strong claws, perfectly adapted for digging holes, and also capable of severely and painfully injuring someone who will anger a badger. But in general, this animal is not at all aggressive, moves slowly, sometimes irregularly. The coloring of the European badger is very characteristic: the head is light, two black stripes begin almost from the nose and pass through the eyes to the neck, gradually getting lost on the back; dark, almost black, he also has paws, stomach and chest. The badger's fur is light gray, hard and long, but with a soft undercoat. The tail of the animal is short and quite fluffy.
Where does it meet
European badger is quite undemanding to the habitat. It can be found everywhere in Europe. They especially love deciduous and mixed forests, steppes and any unsinkable places where you can make holes. The only thing that badgers do not tolerate is cold, so they do not settle in winter-freezing soils.
These animals are also not found in deserts and dry waterless steppes. Water availability is mandatory for them, besides, there should be an opportunity to approach it secretly. But the European badger does not avoid the proximity of human habitation - if only it would be possible to make a hole in a little-visited place. These animals love to settle on the slopes of ravines and gullies, on the high banks of rivers and lakes. They prefer places where forest thickets alternate with meadows and wastelands. If there is a lot of food around, then badgers can make holes in the neighborhood with each other. This animal is rarely more than 500 meters away from the home.
What does a badger eat?
This animal is not a predator. In general, a badger is omnivorous, but very often it chooses one kind of food and consumes only it. This mainly depends on the place of residence of the animal. So, what a badger eats:
- Often the basis of his diet is insects, mostly large beetles, but sometimes the animal regales itself with wasps.
- He loves the badger of earthworms, larvae, snails, slugs and fish.
- Sometimes these animals catch vole mice, small birds, lizards or frogs.
- But badgers love plant foods most of all: stems and leaves, rhizomes, berries, acacia pods, acorns, fruits, corn, oats and much more.
Even in the most hungry times, this animal will never eat carrion and the remnants of the feasts of predators. If he lacks food, he simply leaves for another place and arranges a new hole.
Badger lifestyle
This is a very interesting animal. He has amazing behavior, often very different from the habits of other animals.
- Badger leads a semi-underground life. It leaves the hole only in the dark, and in winter it often hibernates for several months. Therefore, it is almost impossible for an ordinary person to find out where a badger lives. It is also very difficult to take a photo of him, because he likes to go out on dark moonless nights, but even then he does not move far from the hole.
- When moving, the badger creates too much noise: it sniffles, rustles loudly with leaves and picks itself in the ground.
- This animal moves rather slowly and hard. When walking, he lowers his head. He rarely runs, mainly moves in steps or jumps.
- European badger is a very clean animal. Near his home you will not find the remains of food and other garbage. He even digs special “latrines” in a secluded place near the hole. And the litter in his nest changes twice a year.
- Vision in these animals is very weak: they notice only moving objects. Their hearing is not sharper than that of a person. The badger is oriented only with the help of smell, which he has developed quite well.
- The voice of this animal resembles grunting, it can also grumble, and with a strong fright - scream.
- The life span of the animal is about 15 years.
Nora badger
This animal builds its own housing. In addition, it is constantly expanding and repairing it. The new hole has two to five exits. After a few years, the number of holes can reach 40 or more.
There are also holes in the hole. The underground house of the badger lies at a depth of not less than a meter and is a complex system of galleries, snouts, dead ends, emergency passages and extensions. They are often located in several tiers and extend to a depth of more than five meters. Usually there is a pair of nesting chambers, often badgers place them under an aquifer, which protects against seepage of groundwater. The length of the moves reaches sometimes 80 meters. If animals do not bother and food is enough, then several generations can live in one hole - it is inherited. Young badgers finish building the dwelling and add new moves. Therefore, the old "badger" may occupy an area of more than a hectare.
Relations with other animals
Badgers are not at all aggressive animals. They are so tolerant of each other that several families can live in the same dwelling. Badgers have no natural enemies, only humans are dangerous to him. But young animals can be hunted by wolves and bears. And adult animals are very careful and prefer to move away and hide in the hole, although even a large predator is hard to cope with such an opponent.
If pissed off, he squeals loudly and bites, and can also severely injure the offender with his claws. Sometimes in the badger’s burrow other animals get caught: raccoons, ferrets, martens or foxes. While they do not bother the owner, he tolerates them, only fencing off. But the badger is a very neat animal, so quite often he drives foxes out of his house.
What does he do in winter
The hibernation of a badger is like a bear. They do not sleep in winter only where there is no frost. But most often badgers eat fat in the fall, almost double in weight, and repair the hole, preparing it for hibernation. They insulate the nest, dragging moss and dry leaves there. The badger throws out the old litter, as it is very clean. These animals also store food, folding it in special pantries in the hole. The roots and grains of plants are very useful to a badger, when in the spring he wakes up hungry. They cease to appear on the surface after the onset of frost and snow, and in spring come out with the beginning of snowmelt. All the holes from the hole before hibernation, this animal clogs with earth and dry leaves.
