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Badger

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For other uses, see Badger (disambiguation).
Badger

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily: Melinae
Mellivorinae
Taxidiinae
Genera

 Arctonyx
 Melogale
 Meles
 Mellivora
 Taxidea

Badgers are short-legged, heavy-set carnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are some eight species of badger, in three subfamilies (see links in species list below): Melinae (badgers of Europe and Asia), Mellivorinae (the Ratel or honey badger), and Taxideinae (the American badger). The Asiatic stink badgers of the genus Mydaus were formerly included in the Melinae and Mustelidae, but recent genetic evidence[citation needed] indicates that these are actually closer relatives of the skunks, now often put with them in the separate family Mephitidae.

Typical badgers include the species in the genera Meles, Arctonyx, Taxidea and Mellivora species. Their 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, but limits its jaw movement to hingeing open and shut, or sliding from side to side without the twisting movement possible for the jaws of most mammals.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The word badger originally applied to the European Badger (Meles meles), but its derivation is uncertain. It possibly comes from the French word blaireau: "corn-hoarder", or from the French word bêcheur (digger), introduced during William the Conqueror's reign.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary, however, states that the most likely derivation is from badge + -ard, referring to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead.[2]

An older term for "badger" in English is brock (Old English brocc), a Celtic loanword (cf. Gaelic broc and Welsh broch, from Proto-Celtic *brokko) meaning grey.[2] The Proto-Germanic term was *þahsu- (cf. German Dachs, Dutch das, Norwegian svin-toks), probably from the PIE root *tek'- "to construct," so that the badger would have been named after its digging of setts (tunnels).

A male badger is a boar, a female a sow and a young badger is a cub. A collective name suggested for a group of badgers is a cete,[3] but badger colonies are more often called clans. Badger dens are called setts.

[edit] Classification

The following list shows where the various badger species are placed in the Mustelidae classification.

[edit] Behavior

The behavior of badgers differs by family, but all shelter underground, living in burrows called setts which may be very extensive. Some are solitary, moving from home to home, while others are known to form clans. Clan size is variable from 2 to 15. Badgers can be fierce animals and will protect themselves and their young at all costs. Badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves, coyotes and bears. Badgers can run or gallop at up to 25–30 kilometres per hour (20–20 mph) for short periods of time.

North American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) and Coyotes (Canis latrans) have been seen hunting together, in a cooperative fashion.[5]

[edit] Diet

American badger.

American Badgers are fossorial carnivores. Unlike many carnivores that stalk their prey in open country, badgers catch most of their food by digging. They can tunnel after ground-dwelling rodents with amazing speed. They have been known to cache food.

The diet of the Eurasian badger consists largely of earthworms, insects, and grubs. They also eat small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds as well as cereals, roots and fruit.[6][7]

The honey badger of Africa consumes honey, porcupines and even venomous snakes (such as the puff adder). They will climb trees to gain access to honey from bees' nests.

In North America, coyotes sometimes eat badgers and vice versa, but the majority of their interactions seem to be mutual or neutral.[8]

Badgers have been known to become intoxicated with alcohol after eating rotting fruit.[9]

Eurasian badger.

[edit] Badgers and humans

For more details on badgers and bovine tuberculosis, see Eurasian badger.

Hunting badgers is common in many countries. Manipulating the badger population is prohibited in many European countries as badgers are listed in the Berne Convention, but they are not otherwise the subject of any international treaty or legislation.

The blood sport of badger-baiting was outlawed in the United Kingdom by the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 as well as the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 which makes it a serious offence to kill, injure or take a badger, or to damage or interfere with a sett unless a licence is obtained from a statutory authority. An exemption that allowed fox hunters to loosely block setts to prevent chased foxes escaping into them was brought to an end with the passage of the Hunting Act 2004.

Many badgers in Europe were gassed during the 1960s and 1970s to control rabies. Until the 1980s, gassing was also practised in the UK to control the spread of bovine TB.

A Scandinavian custom is to put eggshells or styrofoam in one's boots when walking through badger territory, as badgers are believed to bite down until they can hear a crunch. The dachshund dog breed has a history with badgers; "dachs" is theGerman word for badger, and dachshunds were originally bred to be badger hounds.[10]

The badger is the state animal of Wisconsin. Likenesses of badgers appear through the Wisconsin State Capitol, and a badger appears on the head of the statue of Wisconsin atop the building. The official mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is Buckingham U. Badger, AKA Bucky Badger.

[edit] Badgers in the human diet

Although rarely eaten today in the United States or the United Kingdom,[11] badger was once one of the main meat sources in the diets of Native Americans and white colonists.[12][13][14][15][16] Also, badgers were eaten in Britain during World War II and the 1950s.[13]

In Russia, the consumption of badger meat is widespread.[17] Patients who have been treated for trichinellosis after eating badger meat have said that shish kebabs made with badger meat are "tasty, exotic, and cheap".[17]

Consumption of badger meat also occurs in other European countries such as Croatia, where it is used in a variation of the traditional dish of goulash.[18] In contrast to Russia, there are no reports of trichinellosis related to the consumption of badger meat. This is credited to adequate preparation of the meat and good thermal processing of it.[16]

In France, badger meat is used in the preparation of several dishes, such as Blarieur au sang and it is a relatively common ingredient in countryside cuisine.[19]

Badger meat was eaten in some parts of Spain until recently.[20]

The badger is a source of food in China and the meat is freely available in market places.[21][22]

Other Asian countries, such as Japan also have a tradition of consuming badger meat. Badger meat consumption in Japan is mentioned in folktales where it is regarded as a food for the humble.[23]

[edit] Badger products

Today badgers are commercially raised for their hair, which is harvested to make shaving brushes. Because badgers are a protected species in North America and most of Europe, virtually all commercial badger hair comes from mainland China, which supplies knots of hair in three grades to brush makers in both China and Europe. In rural Northern China, badgers multiply to the point of becoming a crop nuisance, and village cooperatives are licensed by the national government to hunt badgers and process their hair.[24] The hair is also used for paint brushes, and was used as a trim on Native American garments.[25] It has been used in some instances as doll hair.[citation needed]

[edit] In fiction and culture

The 19th century poem "The Badger" by John Clare describes a badger hunt and badger-baiting, it treats the badger as a noble creature which dies at the end.

Badger, Rat, Mole, and Toad from The Wind in the Willows.

Badgers are popular in English fiction. Many badger characters are featured in author Brian Jacques' Redwall series, most often falling under the title of Badger Lord or Badger Mother. Other stories featuring badgers as characters include Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mr. Tod (Tommy Brock), C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian (Trufflehunter), The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn by T. H. White, Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, Colin Dann's The Animals of Farthing Wood, and Disney's adaption of Robin Hood(Friar Tuck).

The character Frances in Russell Hoban's series of children's books is a badger. Badgers also appear prominently in two volumes of Erin Hunter's Warriors: The New Prophecy series, and a badger god is featured as a major character and spirit guide for the lead character in The Immortals series by Tamora Pierce. The scene is set for Tom Holt's Expecting Someone Taller during an encounter with a badger which is the final manifestation of a Germanic mythological character.

Badgers have also been used to symbolize organizations in function such as the Badger army in in Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game or house Hufflepuff in the Harry Potter series. Badgers also have been referenced numerously in works including '"Weird Al" Yankovic's cult classic, "UHF" and the animated short "Badger Badger Badger".

In 2007 urban legends emerged that British forces released man-eating badgers in the vicinity of Basra, Iraq, to kill terrorists following the coalition invasion.[26] This allegation has been denied by the British, and local scientists agree that the animals, Ratels, also known as Honey Badgers, are native to the region.[27]

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC Natural World, 2008, Badgers: Secrets of the Sett
  2. ^ a b Weiner, E. S. C.; Simpson, J. R. (1989). The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.  Online at http://dictionary.oed.com (subscription required).
  3. ^ http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kennel/collectives.htm
  4. ^ a b "The hog-badger is not an edentate: systematics and evolution of the genus Arctonyx (Mammalia: Mustelidae)". Blackwell Publishing. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/zoj/2008/00000154/00000002/art00006. 
  5. ^ Cahalane VH (1950) Badger-coyote "partnerships." Journal of Mammalogy 31: 354-355
  6. ^ "Badger Ecology: diet". Woodchester Park Badger Research. Central Science Laboratory. http://www.badgerecology.org/BEdiet.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-30. 
  7. ^ "Diet of the Eurasian badger". Badgerecology.org. http://www.badgerecology.org/BEdiet.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  8. ^ Kiliaan HPL, Mamo C, Paquet PC (1991) A Coyote, Canis latrans, and Badger, Taxidea taxus, interaction near Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta. Canadian Field-Naturalist 105: 122-12
  9. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9a013U8U1EbEBcrlAf0115R6doQ
  10. ^ "Dachshund, Dachshunds, Wiener Dog, little hot dog, hotdog dog". Dog Breed Info Center. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/dachshund.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-30. 
  11. ^ "Wonderland: The Man Who Eats Badgers and Other Strange Tales - TV pick of the day for January 23rd, 2008". Library.digiguide.com. http://library.digiguide.com/lib/uk-tv-highlight/Wonderland:+The+Man+Who+Eats+Badgers+and+Other+Strange+Tales-2425/Documentary/. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  12. ^ "Primary Source documents". Bcheritage.ca. http://www.bcheritage.ca/cariboo/primary/mcmick.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  13. ^ a b "How To Bake A Badger". Globalchefs.com. http://www.globalchefs.com/article/current/art123bak.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  14. ^ "Summary of Trichinellosis Outbreaks (2001-2004)". Trichinella.org. http://www.trichinella.org/epidemiology/epid_russia.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  15. ^ "MESO: The first Croatian meat journal, Vol.VII No.1 February 2005". Hrcak. 2005-02-01. http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=35552&lang=en. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  16. ^ a b "http://www.vef.hr/vetarhiv/papers/2006-76-7-2.pdf" (PDF). http://www.vef.hr/vetarhiv/papers/2006-76-7-2.pdf. 
  17. ^ a b "Summary of Trichinellosis Outbreaks (2001-2005) - Russia". www.trichinella.org. http://www.trichinella.org/epidemiology/epid_russia.htm. Retrieved on 2008-10-11. 
  18. ^ "Sweet delicacy from hunter's kitchen - badger (Melles melles L.) Abstract". Portal of scientific journals of Croatia. http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=35552&lang=en. Retrieved on 2008-10-11. 
  19. ^ Molinier, Annie ; Molinier, Jean-Claude; d'Hauterives, Benoît Lumeau. (2004). Les cuisines oubliées. Illinois: Editions Sud Ouest. ISBN 978-2879015491.  Parts of it online at http://www.gastronomydomine.com/2006/06/badger-stew.html .
  20. ^ "Badgers in Spain". IberiaNature. http://www.iberianature.com/mammals/other-carnivores/badgers-in-spain/. Retrieved on 2008-11-25. 
  21. ^ English Shaving Shop. "The Olde English Shaving Shop - The English Badger is a protected species". Englishshavingshop.com. http://www.englishshavingshop.com/shopcontent.asp?type=protected. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  22. ^ "Bristle Types and Bloom". Emsplace.com. http://www.emsplace.com/bristle_types_and_bloom.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-25. 
  23. ^ Radin, Paul. (1946). Folktales of Japan as Told in California - The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 59, No. 233 (Jul. - Sep., 1946), pp. 289-308. Illinois: University of Illinois Press on behalf of American Folklore Society.  Online at http://www.jstor.org/pss/536252 (subscription required).
  24. ^ "Brush with Greatness - MenEssentials". www.menessentials.com. http://www.menessentials.com/oxid.php/sid/x/shp/oxbaseshop/cl/info/tpl/shave_brush.tpl. Retrieved on 2008-10-11. 
  25. ^ "ADW: Taxidea taxus: Information". Animal Diversity Web. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Taxidea_taxus.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-30. 
  26. ^ "British blamed for Basra badgers". BBC News. 2007-07-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6295138.stm. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. 
  27. ^ Carney, Mike (2007-07-12). "Brits 'deny' releasing 'giant man-eating' badgers that target Iraqis". USA Today. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/07/brits-deny-rele.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. 

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