Badger: Encyclopedia - Badger

Badger

 Mydeus
 Arctonyx
 Melogale
 Meles
 Mellivora
 Taxidea

Badger is the common name for any animal of three subfamilies, which belong to the family Mustelidae: the same mammal family as the ferrets, the weasels, the otters, and several other types of carnivore. There are 9 species of badger, in three subfamilies: Melinae (the Eurasian badgers), Mellivorinae, (the Ratel or honey badger), and Taxidinae (the American badger). The name is possibly derived from the word badge, on account of the marks on the head; or it may be identical with the term noted below, the French blaireau being used in both senses. Typical badgers (Meles, Arctonyx, Taxidea and Mellivora species) are short-legged and heavy-set. The lower jaw is articulated to the upper, by means of a transverse condyle firmly locked into a long cavity of the cranium, so that dislocation of the jaw is all but impossible. This enables the badger to maintain its hold with the utmost tenacity.

The collective name for a group of badgers is a cete.

An older term for "badger" is brock (Old English brocc), a Celtic loanword (Gaelic broc, Welsh broch, from Proto-Celtic *brokko). The Proto-Germanic term was *þahsu- (German dachs), likely from the PIE root *tek'- "to construct", so that the badger would have been named after its digging of setts (tunnels).

Because of their fidelity and gentle nature, badgers are seen by some as a symbol of love and loyalty.

Badger - Classification

• Family Mustelidae
  • Subfamily Lutrinae: otters
  • Subfamily Melinae
    • Indonesian or Javan Stink Badger (Teledu), Mydaus javanensis
    • Palawan Stink Badger, Mydaus marchei
    • Hog Badger, Arctonyx collaris
    • Burmese Ferret Badger, Melogale personata
    • Oriental Ferret Badger, Melogale orientalis
    • Chinese Ferret Badger, Melogale moschata
    • Everett's Ferret Badger, Melogale everetti
    • Eurasian Badger, Meles meles
  • Subfamily Mellivorinae
    • Ratel or Honey Badger, Mellivora capensis
  • Subfamily Taxidinae:
    • American Badger, Taxidea taxus
  • Subfamily Mustelinae: weasels, martens, polecats and allies

Badger - Taxidinae subfamily

Badger - American badger Taxidea taxus

The American badger ranges over the greater part of the western and central United States as well as northern Mexico and southern Canada. Like the Eurasian badgers it is a powerful digger, but some of its behaviors differ from those of its relatives.

T. taxus is more carnivorous than the Meles species, and does not inhabit a permanent sett, or hole. Unless it is courting or rearing young, the American badger lives apart from others of its kind. It hunts, wanders and sleeps in temporary burrows within a given territory, often inhabiting holes excavated by other animals and sometimes even sharing space with the original tenants.

Badger - Badgers and humans

The badger's skill at digging has led to folk beliefs that the animal's paws give good luck in childbirth. The Pueblo people consider the badger great healers and believe them to be intimately connected to their shamans. Japanese legends include shapeshifting badgers.

The badger does not usually seek to attack, but, when driven to bay, its great muscular power and tough hide render it a formidable antagonist. Consequently the animals were used in the cruel sport of badger-baiting.

Badgers are listed in Appendix III of the Berne Convention, but are not otherwise the subject of any international treaty or legislation. Badgers are hunted in many countries, either as a perceived pest, or for sport. Many badger setts in Europe were gassed during the 1960s and 1970s to control rabies. Gassing was also practised in the UK until the 1980s to control the spread of bovine TB. Badgers are protected in the UK by the Badgers Act 1991 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. They may not be killed, nor their setts interfered with, except on licence from the government (this exception is to permit the killing of badgers in the attempt to eradicate bovine TB).

See Eurasian badger for more details about badgers and bovine TB.

Badger - Badger digging and baiting

Badger digging is the process of digging a badger out of its sett. Terriers (a type of dog) or dachshunds (or badger dogs) are used to locate the badger in the tunnel, after which the diggers attempt to dig down to the badger. If the badger tries to dig to escape, the dog will attack. Sometimes radio transmitters are attached to the dog to help in its location. The captured badger may sometimes be released elsewhere, but is more often killed or used in badger baiting, in which a badger is put into a pit and made to fight dogs, commonly accompanied by heavy gambling.

This practice is illegal in the United Kingdom.

Badger - Badger aphorisms

The phrase "Don't call the badger a bishop" derives from the practice of badger baiting. To call the badger a bishop is to imply that the badger's overwhelmed condition somehow makes it virtuous, when it is, in fact, just a badger. Thus, the term means committing the fallacy of projecting virtue on to the oppressed or disadvantaged. Badger baiting also led to the verb sense of the word "badger", as in the legal objection of "badgering the witness".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Badger", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki