Meles meles

Badger is a larger species in Mustelidae, weighing about 5-10kg, with the largest reaching 15kg, and a body length of 500-700mm. It is stout, with a long snout, a thick and blunt nose tip, a cartilaginous nose pad, hair between the nose pad and the upper lip, short and round ears, and small eyes. It has a thick and short neck, short and strong limbs, and thick and long black-brown claws on both the front and rear feet. The claws on the front feet are longer than those on the hind feet, and the tail is short. There is a glandular sac near the anus that can secrete smelly fluid.
The back of the badger is a mixture of brown and white or creamy yellow, and is covered with coarse and hard needle hair from the top of the head to the tail. The base of the needle hair on the back is grayish white or white, the middle part is black brown or light black brown, and the hair tips are white or creamy yellow. The dark brown part of the needle hair on the side of the body is obviously reduced, whi

Distributed in Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
China is distributed from Inner Mongolia, Northeast China, North China to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Gansu provinces.
Badgers live in forests or hillside shrubs, fields, cemeteries, dune grasses and lakes, rivers and streams.

Badger (scientific name: Meles meles) is also known as Eurasian Badger. It is a large-bodied species in the Mustelidae family and has 14 subspecies.

Badgers are most active in spring and autumn, usually starting at 8-9 pm and returning to their dens around 4 am. When leaving the cave, it slowly tries to stick its head out of the cave and peek around. If there is no sound, it slowly leaves and walks very fast in the field. When it returns to the cave, it walks slowly. Before entering the cave, it first rests at the entrance of the cave and cleans its head and paws before entering the cave. After leaving the cave, if it finds any sound, it will not return to the original cave for the time being, but move to a temporary cave to live. The range of activities is small and fixed, about 4-6 miles, and it goes back and forth along a certain path.

Badgers have the habit of hibernating and digging holes to live in. The length of the cave varies from a few meters to more than ten meters, and there are crisscrossing branches in between. The winter cave is complex. It is a cave where people live for many years. It is renovated and excavated every year. There are 2-3 entrances and exits. There are main roads, side roads and blind ends. The walls of the main road are smooth and neat, without debris and feces. The end is built with hay, branches and leaves. In spring and autumn, they build temporary caves in the earthen mounds and bushes near farmland. They rest in the caves during the day and come out to look for food at night. These caves are short and straight, with rough tunnels, small nests, thin grass mats, and only one exit. The nest is about 3-5m away from the cave entrance, with a diameter of 40-60cm. The caves inhabited by badgers have smooth entrances, loose soil, and footprints on them. The loose soil extends as far as about 20m, and there are oval manure pits on both sides of the end of the loose soil.

Badgers are ferocious, but they do not actively attack livestock and humans. When pressed by humans or hunting dogs, they often make short "bu, bu" sounds, and can straighten their front half of the body to fight back with sharp claws and canine teeth.

Badgers are omnivorous, feeding on roots, stems, fruits, frogs, earthworms, small fish, sand lizards, insects (larvae and pupae) and small mammals. In grasslands, they like to eat leftovers from wolves. During the sowing and ripening periods of crops, they damage newly sown seeds and corn, peanuts, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and melons that are about to mature.

Badgers reproduce once a year. Male and female chase each other and mate in September and October. They give birth in April and May of the following year. Each litter has 2 to 5 pups. The pups open their eyes after one month. In June and July, the pups follow their mothers to move and forage. In autumn, the pups leave their mothers' camp to live independently. They reach sexual maturity after three years. Females have three pairs of nipples. The first pair is close to the chest. Each pair of nipples is 75mm apart and filled with milk. Except for the white head, the cub is covered with gray-white fur all over its body, while its back and limbs are slightly black, and it often makes a "ji, ji" sound.

On September 30, 2020, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration issued the "Notice on Standardizing the Scope of Classification and Management of Prohibited Wild Animals" on its official website. For 19 kinds of wild animals such as badgers, the "Notice" prohibits breeding activities for the purpose of eating, but allows breeding for non-edible purposes such as medicine, display, and scientific research. In addition, the "Notice" also requires that the forestry and grassland authorities for these 19 kinds of wild animals should work with relevant departments to formulate management measures and breeding technical specifications, strengthen policy guidance and services, strengthen daily supervision and management, and strictly implement relevant requirements for epidemic prevention and quarantine.

The captive-bred badger is one of the main fur animals. The fur of the badger and the wild boar is collectively called badger fur. The fur quality is the best in winter, with thick fur and long, dense fleece. Badger fur can be used to make fur coats, mattresses and collars. The plucked needle hair is flexible and wear-resistant, and can be used to make brushes and high-end brushes.

Listed in the 2008 Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) ver 3.1 - Least Concern (LC).

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