Short Description
The badger has a characteristic black-and-white slim head with a trunk-like snout. It appears rather stocky and has stout short legs with powerful digging paws. Its tracks are almost rectangular, with the broad foot and toe pads and five long claws generally well visible.
Cubs are initially born with white fur. Within a week, they develop the typical black-and-white markings.
Features
European badger
Meles meles
slim black-and-white head
In the city
Badgers are not typical urban animals and can thus rather be found at forest verges. However, they can sometimes also be seen in parks and gardens.
It is nocturnal and quite shy. For that reason, it requires some luck to observe a badger.
Fun Facts
It feeds mainly on earthworms. But its diet also includes insects, plants and even some smaller mammals.
Badger hair is used for high-quality shaving brushes.
Badger setts are constructed underground in the forest floor. Each new generation extends it with further sleeping chambers. A badger sett can thus be inhabited over many decades.
A litter generally consists of two to five cubs. These are born blind and with a white fur.
- Endangerment level Germany: not endangered
- Usage:
In the Middle Ages, badger fat was considered a remedy for rheumatism.
Sources
Habitus , kallerna, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M%C3%A4yr%C3%A4_%C3%84ht%C3%A4ri_4.jpg
Jungtier, BadgerHero, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Badger-badger.jpg
Trittsiegel, A, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meles_meles.jpg
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Kranz, A., Abramov, A.V., Herrero, J. & Maran, T. (2016) Meles meles. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, URL: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/29673/0 (Accessed: 09.05.2016).
Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Région wallonne (2007) Spuren/Trittsiegel erkennen. Spurensucherschulung: Europa LIFE, URL: http://www.loutres.be/IMG/pdf/Spurensucherschulung.pdf (Accessed: 01.12.2016).
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Klawitter, J., Altenkamp, R., Kallasch, C., Köhler, D., Krauß, M., Rosenau, S. & Teige, T. (2005) Rote Liste und Gesamtartenliste der Säugetiere (Mammalia) von Berlin. : Der Landesbeauftragte für Naturschutz und Landschaftspflege / Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung (eds.) Rote Listen der gefährdeten Pflanzen und Tiere von Berlin, URL: https://www.berlin.de/sen/uvk/natur-und-gruen/naturschutz/artenschutz/artenlisten-rote-listen/saeugetiere/ (Accessed: 30.03.2021).
Boye, P. (1993) Heimische Säugetiere. Ein Bestimmungsschlüssel für die in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland wildlebenden Säugetiere, ausser den Ordnungen Robben, Paarhufer und Wale, Hamburg: Deutscher Jugendbund für Naturbeobachtungen.