BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Taxidea taxus | Badger 



TIMING OF MAJOR LIFE HISTORY EVENTS : 
Seasonal Activity Patterns:  At high elevations and latitudes badgers
are inactive, perhaps even torpid, for extended periods in winter.  They
are not true hibernators and emerge from their dens on winter days when
the temperatures are above freezing [18].

Diurnal Activity:  Badgers are largely nocturnal but have been reported
active during the day as well [18].

Breeding Season:  Mating occurs in late summer and early fall [18].

Gestation and Parturition:  Badgers experience delayed implantation.
Pregnancies are suspended until December or as late as February.  Young
are born from late March to early April [18].  Litters range from one to
five young [16], averaging about three [19].

Development of Young:  Badgers are born blind, furred, and helpless
[18].  Eyes open at 4 to 6 weeks.  The female feeds her young solid
foods prior to complete weaning, and for a few weeks thereafter [19].
Young badgers first emerge from the den on their own at 5 to 6 weeks
[16,20].  Families usually break up and juveniles disperse from the end
of June to August; Messick and Hornocker [20] reported that young
badgers left their mother as early as late May or June.  Juvenile
dispersal movements are erratic [16].

Sexual Maturity:  Most female badgers become pregnant for the first time
after thay are 1 year old.  A minority of females 4 to 5 months old
ovulate and a few become pregnant.  Males usually do not breed until
their second year [18].

Mortality and Longevity:  Major causes of adult badger mortality
include, in order, automobiles, farmers (by various methods), sport
shooting, and fur trapping.  Large predators occasionally kill badgers
[16].  Yearly mortality has been estimated at 35 percent for populations
in equilibrium [14].  Lindzey [14] reported that average longevity was 9
to 10 years in the wild.  The longevity record for wild badgers is 14
years; a captive badger lived at least 15 years 5 months [16].


PREFERRED HABITAT : 
Badgers occur primarily in grasslands, parklands, farms, and other
treeless areas with friable soil and a supply of rodent prey [1,6].
They are also found in forest glades and meadows, marshes, brushy areas,
hot deserts, and mountain meadows.  Badgers are sometimes found at
elevations up to 12,000 feet (3,600 m) but are usually found in the
Sonoran and Transition life zones (which are at elevations lower and
warmer than those characterized by coniferous forests) [19].  In Arizona
badgers occur in desert scrub and semidesert grasslands [5].  In
California badgers are occasionally found in open chaparral (with less
than 50% plant cover) and riparian zones.  They are not usually found in
mature chaparral [25].  In Manitoba aspen parklands badger abundance was
positively associated with the abundance of Richardson's ground
squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) [3].

Home Range:  Badger use of home range varies with season and sex of the
badger.  Different areas of the home range are used more frequently at
different seasons and usually are related to prey availability.  Males
generally have larger home ranges than females.  Radio-transmitter
tagged badgers had an average annual home range of 2,100 acres (850 ha).
The home range of one female was 1,790 acres (725 ha) in summer, 131
acres (53 ha) in fall, and 5 acres (2 ha) in winter [26].  Lindzey [15]
reported average home ranges of 667 to 1,550 acres (270-627 ha).

Population Density:  Estimated density of badgers in Utah scrub-steppe
was 1 badger per square mile (2.6 sq km), or 10 dens per square mile
(assuming a single badger has 10 dens in current or recent use) [18].


COVER REQUIREMENTS : 
Badgers enlarge hunting burrows for concealment, protection from
weather, and as natal dens; burrows are up to 30 feet (10 m) long and 10
feet (3 m) deep.  Large mounds of soil are built up at burrow entrances [1].

During the summer badgers usually use a new den each day; holes are
usually excavated at least a few days prior to their being used as a
den.  There was an average of 0.64 dens (in use, signified by an open
hole) per acre (1.6/ha) in northern Utah scrub steppe [15].  Where prey
is particularly plentiful, badgers will reuse dens [19].  In the fall
badgers tend to reuse dens, sometimes for a few days at a time.  In
winter a single den may be used for the majority of the season [18].
Natal dens are dug by the female and are used for extended periods, but
litters are often moved several times, probably to allow the mother to
forage in new areas close to the nursery.  Natal dens are usually larger
and more complex than diurnal dens [16].


FOOD HABITS : 
The badger is largely carnivorous although some plant foods (e.g.,
sunflower [Helianthus spp.] seeds, corn [Zea mays], and small grains)
are consumed.  Badgers prey mainly on small vertebrates, especially
fossorial rodents.  Commonly taken rodents include moles (Talpidae),
marmots (Marmota spp.), mice (Muridae), woodrats (Neotoma spp.),
kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.), ground squirrels (Spermophilus spp.),
pocket gophers (Thomomys spp.), and prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.).
Occasionally lagomorphs are taken, usually only if suprised or trapped
in burrows.  Other food items include fish, snakes, lizards, carrion,
hibernating skunks (Mephitis and Spilogale spp.), insects, honeycombs,
bees, larvae, and eggs and nestlings of ground-nesting birds such as
bank swallows (Riparia riparia) [18,19,28] and burrowing owls (Athene
cunicularia) [23].  Badger predation on coyote pups (Canis latrans) has
also been reported [19].  Badgers may be nest predators of the
ground-nesting short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) [31].  Long [17] reported
a badger with five western toads (Bufo boreas) in its stomach, in
addition to a salamander (Ambystoma spp.) and five meadow voles
(Microtus pennsylvanicus).  Caching of food has been reported [19].

Hunting:  Badgers enlarge and dig out the burrows of fossorial rodents
in pursuit of prey.  They have been observed to plug accessory entrances
to burrow systems, presumably to trap prey within the burrow.  They also
dig into a burrow from the "back entrance" and then lurk in the main
entrance, capturing prey as it enters the burrow [19].

Coyotes have been observed following badgers while badgers were
foraging, capturing rodents flushed from burrows by the badger [21,28].
In a big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)-rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnos
spp.) community in Wyoming, Uinta ground squirrels (Spermophilus
armatus) comprised the majority of badger prey.  Coyotes that followed
badgers greatly benefited from the hunting association.  It was
difficult to assess whether the badger benefited from the hunting
association.  It was suggested that coyotes could increase badger
hunting efficiency by remaining at burrow exits, thus keeping ground
squirrels from using them.  Coyotes also help find new burrow areas, and
appear to encourage badgers to move to new hunting areas by chasing-play
behaviors.  Since badger hunting efficiency could not be assessed
directly, time spent below ground was presumed to indicate hunting
success.  Badgers with coyote "partners" spent more time below ground
and presumably caught more ground squirrels than solitary hunting
badgers.  Badger behavior in the company of coyotes indicated that the
coyote association was either neutral or positive, since badgers often
tolerated coyotes in close proximity and engaged in play behaviors with
them [21].


PREDATORS : 
The badger is an aggressive animal and has few natural enemies.  There
are reports of predation on badgers by golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos),
coyote [18], cougar (Felis concolor), and bobcat (Lynx rufus) [28].
Bears (Ursus spp.) and gray wolf (Canis lupus) occasionally kill badger [16].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Ecological Considerations:  Badgers create patch disturbances in
tallgrass prairie, altering local plant communities and loosening the
soil [4].  Badger holes are sometimes used by burrowing owls for nest
sites; in some areas badger holes are the only size-appropriate holes
available.  Nest success is, however, somewhat lower for owls using
badger holes [23].  Badger activity was noted on some reclaimed surface
coal mine plots that were seeded to grasses.  Badger populations in
neighboring undisturbed big sagebrush communities were larger and more
stable [24].

Economic Considerations: Badgers may help control, and even
substantially reduce, rodent populations in agricultural areas, but
numerous large holes are produced in the process.  These holes are
sometimes hazardous to livestock and machinery [1,19].

Parasites and diseases of badgers have been discussed by Lindzey [16]
and Long and Killingley [19].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Taxidea taxus | Badger