E-Fauna BC Home

Physiology: Badgers are most active in summer, and least in winter. They are not true hibernators, but spend much of the winter in cycles of torpor characterized by a reduction in heart rate and body temperature. Badgers will accumulate stores of fat in the autumn and early winter when much of their prey hibernates and are thus easier to catch.

The home ranges of both male and female badgers expand during the breeding season, indicating that males and females travel more extensively at that time to find mates. Males have larger home ranges and are likely to overlap with the home ranges of several females. Badgers generally mate in late summer between July and August. After fertilization, delayed implantation occurs, which means the zygote develops to the blastula stage and development is then arrested for several months prior to implantation. Implantation into the uterine wall occurs approximately five weeks before birth. Delayed implantation is thought to be a cold-climate adaptation that allows a southern animal to disperse into cold regions.

Young are born blind, furred, and helpless sometime in late March to early April. Their eyes open at four to six weeks of age. Weaning occurs around mid-May when the young are about half-grown. Juveniles are then taught to hunt around mid-June to early July when they are about two-thirds grown. The number of young reportedly ranges from one to seven; two to three young are common in British Columbia. Some young females born in the spring, mate in late summer or fall with a small percentage conceiving the following spring. However, males do not breed in their first year. Badgers are polygamous forming loose pair bonds in late summer. They are territorial, particularly the females, and males likely fight over a female. Dispersal and breakup of family units usually occurs in autumn when the female stops bringing food to the young badgers.

Badgers are opportunistic carnivores, consuming a variety small to medium sized prey items, usually rodents. In BC their diet consists primarily of Columbian ground squirrels (mistakenly referred to as gophers), marmots, and pocket gophers - other items include muskrats, mice, voles, insects, ground nesting birds and eggs, fish, snakes, amphibians, and some kinds of berries and seeds. They will cache food items in burrows and retrieve them up to several weeks later. Badgers catch most of their prey by digging, but sometimes actively pursue prey above ground. They are known to scavenge carrion.

Predators:Natural predation on badgers is rare, with young animals being most vulnerable. Humans are the badger’s primary predator, typically through trapping and shooting, automobile fatalities, and poisoning. Habitat loss results in indirect mortality and reduced population viability.

Badgers are most active at night, but reports of badgers being active in the day are common. While usually considered solitary animals, much sociality among badgers has been observed, particularly family units in the summer. Adult males do not take part in rearing young but visit the female’s home range often throughout the summer months.

Badgers possess a keen sense of smell and hearing. Although sight is important to a badgers’ way of life, the eyes appear rather small for such a large mammal. Scent communication, particularly via anal secretions and other musk glands, indicate that the badger relies very much on smell.

When disturbed or stressed, the badger will seek out its nearest burrow for protection and will often plug the burrow with loose soil behind itself. Badgers use multiple burrows within their home range and are capable of digging several in a single night. They will frequently reuse burrows for many years. Multiple badgers may use the same burrow in an area over several generations.

Badgers in BC have significantly larger home ranges than previous studies reported in the United States. A recent study in the Cariboo region of BC found that adult female home ranges can be up to 100 km2, but average 32km2, while adult male home ranges can be up to 2200 km2, but average 358 km2 (100% MCP). At the northern periphery of their range in BC, high quality badger habitats are patchy and disjunct. Adult females are able to maintain a home range by linking up these patches for foraging and raising young. Resident adult males have to travel extensively to link up several females home ranges in order to successfully mate. These long distance movements of males seeking females during mating season expose them to an increased risk of mortality by vehicle collisions, as they must cross multiple roads.