the mustelidae family

Part seven the badger.

A male badger is called a boar and a female badger is called a sow.Badgers are omnivorous meaning that they eat both plants and meat.They live in family groups in setts under the ground. They start to emerge from these setts at dusk when the sun is setting.The badger has a black and white head,with small white tipped ears.They have strong forepaws with long claws making a wonderful adaptation for digging.The boar`s body and head is about seventy six centimeters in length with a fifteen centimeter tail,The sow is slightly smaller.The old English name for the badger is the brocc.Badgers mate from the end of winter right up to October, But the implantation of the fertilized egg is delayed until December so all of the cubs are born at roughly the same time. Their is usually between two or three cubs in one single litter. The cubs are then born underground in a breeding chamber,between the end of January and the middle of march.The cubs remain underground for about eight weeks. The cubs are born blind, They remain blind for about five weeks. Weaning starts after about twelve weeks.Badgers will spend most of winter in their setts underground,They do not hibernate but live of fat reserves that have been built up since Autumn.They live mainly in woodlands in their extensive setts with many tunnels,They may also live on large Commons and fields,(you may also see them within some urban areas).You can sometimes see straw bedding by their setts where they have taken clean bedding into the sett, This is because they change the bedding on a regular basis. Their diet consists mainly of earthworms and beetles, But they will also eat cereals,blue bell bulbs,autumn fruit and small mammals. They may live for up to fifteen years in the wild. They mark their territory with dung pits called latrines. They will have a well established territory that may have been passed down from previous generations. Look out for their pathways from the sett black and white hairs are a give away as well on barbed wire,., It will be well trodden and defended from outsiders. Badgers from the same sett will mark each other with their scent, This process is called musking. They will all groom each other and the young cubs can be very playful in their early years. A tree close to the sett will be used for them to sharpen their forepaws. Some of the young cubs will stay with the family group, But others will move away to sett up their own territories,Some will leave at their first winter but others will leave the family group when they are still quite young during their first summer. As badgers love elderberries there are normally quite a few bushes growing by the sett as they disperse the seeds in their droppings.Because of the soil being enriched with their droppings their will always be a huge number of stinging nettles as well.They like the soil around the setts to be well drained so it makes it easier for them to dig the tunnels for their setts, Large setts may have between thirty and forty entrances.A great time to watch badgers in the wild is between the middle of February and the end of march, As they start to emerge from their setts.