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For other uses, see Badger (disambiguation).
Badgers, occasionally referred to as brocks, are short-legged, heavy-set omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are 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.
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[hide] · 5 Diet · 9 Notes |
Etymology
The word badger originally applied to the European Badger (Meles meles). 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]
The less common name brock (Old English: brocc), (Scots: brock) is 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; Early Modern English: dasse), 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.
Classification
American badger.
The following list shows where the various badger species are placed in the Mustelidae classification.
· Family Mustelidae
o Subfamily Melinae
§ Genus Arctonyx
§ Hog Badger, Arctonyx collaris
§ Genus Melogale
§ Burmese Ferret-badger, Melogale personata
§ Javan Ferret-badger, Melogale orientalis
§ Chinese Ferret-badger, Melogale moschata
§ Bornean Ferret-badger, Melogale everetti
§ Genus Meles
§ Japanese Badger, Meles anakuma
§ Asian Badger, Meles leucurus
§ European Badger, Meles meles
o Subfamily Mellivorinae
§ Honey Badger or Ratel, Mellivora capensis
o Subfamily Taxideinae:
§ †Pliotaxidea nevadensis
§ †Pliotaxidea garberi
§ American Badger, Taxidea taxus
o Subfamily Mustelinae
§ Includes: weasels, martens, polecats and allies
· Family Mephitidae
o Genus Mydaus
§ Indonesian or Sunda Stink Badger (Teledu), Mydaus javanensis
§ Palawan Stink Badger, Mydaus marchei
Distribution
Meles meles (L.) is found in Ireland and Great Britain[5]and most of Europe as far as southern Scandinavia.[6]
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 (16–19 mph) for short periods of time.
North American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) and Coyotes (Canis latrans) have been seen hunting together, in a cooperative fashion.[7]
Diet
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 roots and fruit.[8][9]
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.
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.
In North America, coyotes sometimes eat badgers and vice versa, but the majority of their interactions seem to be mutual or neutral.[10]
Badgers have been known to become intoxicated with alcohol after eating rotting fruit.[11]
Badgers and humans
Eurasian badger.
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[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] The dachshund dog breed has a history with badgers; "dachs" is the German word for badger, and dachshunds were originally bred to be badger hounds.[12]
As food
Although rarely eaten today in the United States or the United Kingdom,[13] badger was once one of the main meat sources in the diets of Native Americans and white colonists.[14][15][16][17][18] Badgers were also eaten in Britain during World War II and the 1950s.[15]
In Russia, the consumption of badger meat is still widespread.[19] Badger, along with dog and pork, shish kebabs are cited as a major source of trichinellosis outbreaks in the Altai region of Russia.[19] 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.[20] 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.[18]
In France, badger meat was used in the preparation of several dishes, such as Blarieur au sang and it was a relatively common ingredient in countryside cuisine.[21] Badger meat was eaten in some parts of Spain until recently as well.[22]
Badger remains a source of food in China, and the meat is freely available in market places.[23][24] Other Asian countries also have traditions of consuming badger meat. In Japan, it is mentioned in folktales where it is regarded as a food for the humble.[25]
Commercial use
Today badgers are commercially raised for their hair, which is harvested to make shaving brushes. Virtually all commercial badger hair comes from mainland China,[citation needed] 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. The hair is also used for paint brushes, and was used as a trim on Native American garments.[26] It has been used in some instances as doll hair.[citation needed]
In popular culture
Badger, Rat, Mole, and Toad from The Wind in the Willows.
· 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.
· 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, and most are powerful warriors. Other stories featuring badgers as characters include:
o Beatrix Potter – The Tale of Mr. Tod (Tommy Brock)
o C. S. Lewis – Prince Caspian (Trufflehunter)
o Kenneth Grahame – The Wind in the Willows
o T. H. White – The Once and Future King and The Book of Merlyn
o Roald Dahl – Fantastic Mr. Fox
o Colin Dann – The Animals of Farthing Wood
o Erin Hunter – Warriors
· In Japanese folklore, badger is a wild creature that sometimes appears as a mischievous being, able to turn itself into different shapes, including that of humans. In one favorite tale, a badger visits a Buddhist temple and then tries to hide himself by turning into a teakettle. In this tale, the badger helps the temple priest; badgers in other stories are sometimes evil.[27]
· 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 fiction such as the Badger Army in Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game or house Hufflepuff in the Harry Potter series.
· "The Badger" is a Wisconsin-based superhero created by Mike Baron. The Badger comic book series was published by First Comics between 1986 and 1991 and lasted 70 issues; the first four issues were published by Capitol Comics, and after the conclusion of the First Comics series several mini-series were published by Image Comics in the early 1990s.
· Badgers also have been referenced numerously in works including "Weird Al" Yankovic's cult classic, "UHF" and the animated short Badger Badger Badger.
· The British children's TV show Bodger and Badger features a talking puppet named Badger, and his confidant Bodger.
· In Walt Disney's 1973 film Robin Hood, the character Friar Tuck is a badger.
· In Pokemon, Typhlosion and Linoone are based on badgers.
· In Europe, Badgers were originally used to predict the length of winter rather than groundhogs for the occasion which is now Groundhog's Day.[28]
· Bucky Badger is the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
· Bernard Hinault, a French professional cyclist of the late 1970s and early 1980s, was nicknamed "the Badger" ("le Blaireau") for his tenacity.
Miscellany
· The badger is the state animal of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Likenesses of badgers appear through the Wisconsin State Capitol, and a badger appears on the head of Wisconsin, the golden statue on top of the capitol building. The official mascot of the University of Wisconsin–Madison is Buckingham U. Badger, or Bucky 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.[29] 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.[30]
· Badger is NATO's codename for the Tupolev Tu-16 bomber
Notes
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. ^ Sleeman,D.P. Davenport, J., Cussen.R.E. and Hammond, R.F. 2009. The small-bodied adgers (Meles meles (L.) of Rutland Island, Co. Donegal. Ir. Nat. J. 30: 1 - 6
6. ^ Brink van den, F.H. 1967. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Britain and Europe. Collins, London
7. ^ Cahalane VH (1950) Badger-coyote "partnerships." Journal of Mammalogy 31: 354-355
8. ^ "Badger Ecology: diet". Woodchester Park Badger Research. Central Science Laboratory. http://www.badgerecology.org/BEdiet.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
9. ^ "Diet of the Eurasian badger". Badgerecology.org. http://www.badgerecology.org/BEdiet.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
10. ^ 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
11. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9a013U8U1EbEBcrlAf0115R6doQ
12. ^ "Dachshund, Dachshunds, Wiener Dog, little hot dog, hotdog dog". Dog Breed Info Center. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/dachshund.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
13. ^ "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 2009-04-25.
14. ^ "Primary Source documents". Bcheritage.ca. http://www.bcheritage.ca/cariboo/primary/mcmick.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
15. ^ a b "How To Bake A Badger". Globalchefs.com. http://www.globalchefs.com/article/current/art123bak.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
16. ^ "Summary of Trichinellosis Outbreaks (2001-2004)". Trichinella.org. http://www.trichinella.org/epidemiology/epid_russia.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
17. ^ "MESO: The first Croatian meat journal, Vol.VII No.1 February 2005". Hrcak. 1 February 2005. http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=35552&lang=en. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
18. ^ 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.
19. ^ a b "Summary of Trichinellosis Outbreaks (2001-2005) - Russia". www.trichinella.org. http://www.trichinella.org/epidemiology/epid_russia.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
20. ^ "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 2008-10-11.
21. ^ 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.
22. ^ "Badgers in Spain". IberiaNature. http://www.iberianature.com/mammals/other-carnivores/badgers-in-spain/. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
23. ^ 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 2009-04-25.
24. ^ "Bristle Types and Bloom". Emsplace.com. http://www.emsplace.com/bristle_types_and_bloom.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
25. ^ 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).
26. ^ "ADW: Taxidea taxus: Information". Animal Diversity Web. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Taxidea_taxus.html. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
27. ^ Jeremy Roberts: Japanese Mythology A to Z, 2nd edition, 2010. ISBN-13: 978-1-60413-435-3.
28. ^ Yoder, Don, Groundhog Day. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003 ISBN 0-8117-0029-1
29. ^ "British blamed for Basra badgers". BBC News. 12 July 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6295138.stm. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
30. ^ Carney, Mike (12 July 2007). "Brits 'deny' releasing 'giant man-eating' badgers that target Iraqis". USA Today. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/07/brits-deny-rele.html. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
External links
· BBC Wales Nature: Badger video clips
· Badgerland - The Definitive On-Line Guide to Badgers in the UK
· Steve Jackson's Badger Pages
· The Badger Trust (formerly the National Federation of Badger Groups)
· WildlifeOnline - Natural History of Badgers
· IberiaNature: Spanish badgers
· Badgers on the Web. [1]
Email:nolvyhindarto@gmail.com
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