Sep
1
2009
Canadian Wildlife – North American Badger
Author: RockySo you’re heading off to Canada, lets have a look at another one of its none human inhabitants! – The North American Badger!
When i saw all the photos online before i went out to Canada, all the photos i had seen kind of made the north American cousin to our European badger look pretty ugly and vicious.. but seeing one for real at Muskoka Wildlife Centre actually showed me that they can be quite cute! Yes, they are equally dangerous – so you have to stay well away if you saw one in the wild, but they are equally cute with their flat bodies and the ears that almost seem like they’re on the very sides of their heads!
The American Badger has most of the general characteristics common to badgers; stocky and low-slung with short, powerful legs, they are identifiable by their huge foreclaws (measuring up to 5cm in length) and distinctive head markings. Measuring generally between 60 to 75 cm (23.6 to 29.5 inches) in length, males of the species are significantly larger than females (with an average weight of roughly 7 kg (15.5 pounds) for females and up to almost 9 kg (19.8 pounds) for males). Northern subspecies such as T. t. jeffersonii are heavier than the southern subspecies. In the fall, when food is plentiful, adult male badgers can exceed 11.5 kg (25.3 pounds).[4]
Excluding the head, the American Badger is covered with a grizzled, silvery coat of coarse hair or fur. The American Badger’s triangular face shows a distinctive black and white pattern, with brown or blackish “badges” marking the cheeks and a white stripe extending from the nose to the base of the head. In the subspecies T. t. berlandieri, the white head stripe extends the full length of the body, to the base of the tail.
It preys predominantly on pocket gophers, ground squirrels, moles, marmots, prairie dogs, pika, woodrats, kangaroo rats, deer mice , and voles, often digging to pursue prey into their dens, and sometimes plugging tunnel entrances with objects. They also prey on ground-nesting birds such as bank swallow or sand martin and burrowing owl, lizards, amphibians, carrion, fish, skunks, insects, including bees and honeycomb and some plant foods such as maize, peas, green beans, mushrooms and other fungi, and sunflower seeds.
They are mainly active at night, but may be active during the day. They do not hibernate, but become less active in winter. A badger may spend much of the winter in cycles of torpor that last around 29 hours. They do emerge from their setts on warmer days.
Badgers sometimes use abandoned burrows of other animals like foxes or animals slightly smaller or bigger. Badgers are normally solitary animals for most of the year, but it is thought that in breeding season they expand their territories to actively seek out mates. Males may breed with more than one female. Mating occurs in the summer, but implantation is delayed and the young are born in an underground burrow during late winter. Litters consist of one to five offspring.
American badgers will sometimes form a symbiotic relationship with Coyotes. Because coyotes are not very effective at digging rodents out of their burrows, they will chase the animals while they are above ground. Badgers on the other hand are not fast runners, but are well-adapted to digging. When hunting together, they effectively leave little escape for prey in the area.
So now should you see one of these cute creatures, you’ll know a good bit about them and know to keep back, as they may look cute but you never mess with a badger!
