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Badger - Meles meles

Order: Carnivores - Family: Mustelids

Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758)

Biogeographical location:
Eurocentral Asian.

Distinctive features: head-body length 61-73 cm; shoulder height 30 cm; tail 15-19 cm; hind foot 8.5-11 cm; weight 10-16 kg. Robust build, stocky and low body; thick neck, flattened head with small eyes, short and rounded ears, elongated and pointed muzzle. Short limbs, thick and stocky feet, toes with well-developed claws; short tail. Coarse fur, not thick, sparser in the front parts, longer hairs on the sides of the body. Body gray on the back, lighter on the sides and black underneath, white head with characteristic longitudinal black stripe on the sides. Anal scent glands are present.

A Front paw print:
length ~5 cm (if the print is complete ~7 cm); width ~4 cm

P Hind paw print:
length ~4.5 cm (up to the central prominence), ~6 cm (up to the heel); width ~3.5 cm

Habitat: plains and mountains up to 2000 meters altitude; in wooded areas with dense undergrowth, fallow land, with well-drained and easy-to-dig soil.

Habits: mainly nocturnal, rather social, lives in groups of up to 10-15 individuals (1-2 adult males, several females, some subadults and young). Has an excellent sense of smell, playful nature but easily irritable. Usually moves at a walk or trot, with a clumsy and not very agile gait; can partially climb, swims and digs easily. Within an area of 50-100 ha, dens are built with complex systems of underground tunnels and numerous entrances; in these it spends the winter rest, which is not true hibernation, but a prolonged sleep. Omnivorous, prefers earthworms. Mating can occur throughout the year, but especially from February to May; implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus, however, occurs only in December (as in many other mustelids, the phenomenon of embryonic diapause also occurs in the badger); after two months of true gestation, 1-5 young are born, covered with sparse whitish hair and with closed eyes. Birth takes place in the den in a nest chamber lined with a constantly renewed layer of vegetation. The young open their eyes after about 5 weeks, begin to leave the den only at 2 months, stop being nursed at at least 3 months, become independent at 5-6 months. Females reach sexual maturity at 12-15 months, males at 2 years. In the wild, it can live up to 15 years. With the exception of the wolf (a very rare case), it has no predators, but competitors, especially the fox, with which it often shares dens.

Status: common.

General distribution: Europe; Near East; Mesopotamia, western and central Siberia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. In Italy: it is present throughout the peninsula, except for the islands.

Existing protection: it is protected by Law 11/02/1992, n.157. It is also considered a protected species by the Bern Convention (L. 5/8/1981, n.503).

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