Did You Know These Facts About Badgers?

Badgers are the UKs largest land carnivore, and whilst that may imply they eat only meat- that is not the case. A badgers diet includes beetles, worms, small mammals, eggs, chicks and carrion, but also berries and fruits, and they apparently love corn on the cob. They are known as carnivores because they belong to the order Carnivora, which includes animals such as pandas- who don't eat any meat at all. If you look at their classification again, you'll see that badgers belong to the mustelid family. This includes otters, pine martens and weasels, but badgers are the only member of that family in the UK, who live in social groups full time. These groups are called clans and the sequence of underground burrows and chambers where they live are known as their sett. Each clan usually has one main sett and then a series of smaller burrows further away where they can rest if they get caught in bad weather or find themselves in danger. Each clan of badgers usually contains between 6 and 8 adult animals, but they can get much larger than this- one clan in the Cotswolds areas has at least 30 individuals in it. Female badgers, which are known as sows, mostly stay with the same clan for their entire lives- meaning they live alongside their sisters, mothers, aunts and nieces- but male badgers, which are known as boars, sometimes spread out and try to join neighbouring clans or start their own. Historically it was thought that the majority of boars did this, but long term studies have shown that its actually a relatively low portion who permanently leave their original set- less than 1 in 5 males did so. However, the same studies found that adult boars would frequently visit neighbouring setts to mate with the sows, which reduces their chances of inbreeding. They are among the most impressive engineers in the British countryside. Badger setts aren't just simple burrows, but huge underground networks of tunnels and nesting chambers that can be used continuously for centuries. Some of the oldest known main setts are thought to be well over one hundred years old, with dozens of entrances and hundreds of metres of tunnels. As each new generation expands the sett, it becomes larger and more complex, creating an underground home that's passed down through the family. Despite living underground, badgers are incredibly clean animals. Their sleeping chambers are lined with dry grass, bracken and leaves, which they regularly replace with fresh bedding throughout the year. They also keep their toilets well away from where they sleep, digging small pits known as latrines around the edges of their territory. These don't just keep the sett clean either—they're also an important way of communicating with neighbouring clans by leaving behind scent. This lets dominant boars know when sows are ready to mate, or when there is a potential competitor nearby. Female badgers have one of the most unusual reproductive strategies of any British mammal. They can mate at almost any time of year, but the fertilised egg doesn't immediately begin developing. Instead, it remains dormant in a process called delayed implantation. Only when conditions are right, usually during the early winter, does the embryo implant into the wall of the uterus. This means that although mating may have happened months earlier, most cubs are born during late winter, when they'll have the best chance of surviving. Badgers might look slow and rather clumsy, but don't be fooled. They can sprint at speeds of almost 19 miles per hour—which is much faster than most people expect from such a stocky animal. Although they can't maintain that speed for long, it's more than enough to escape potential danger. Although animals can sometimes surprise us, from the research I have done for this video, it doesn't seem that badgers are able to jump to pass over obstacles, but they are brilliant swimmers and climbers- they can easily cross a river or climb over a garden fence. Badgers are also surprisingly vocal. Rather than communicating with just one or two calls, they've been recorded making a whole range of different sounds, including growls, snarls, barks, squeals, yelps and even purring noises. Cubs are especially noisy, constantly calling to their mother whilst playing around the sett. These different vocalisations help badgers communicate with one another, whether they're greeting family members, warning off rivals or sometimes calling for help.