European badger

The European badger (Meles meles), also called the Eurasian badger, belongs to the mustelid family and lives across Europe, West Asia, and parts of Central Asia. Its wide distribution and large, stable population—which is growing in some areas—earn it a "least concern" status on the IUCN Red List. In the United Kingdom, it is the only badger species and is simply referred to as the "badger."

This animal is stocky and strong, with a small head, short tail, tiny black eyes, and a coat mixing black, white, brown, and grey. Its weight changes with the seasons: from 7–13 kg (15–29 lb) in spring to 15–17 kg (33–37 lb) in autumn, just before its winter sleep. Nocturnal and social, badgers live in burrows called setts, sleeping during the day in one of several within their territory. These setts contain multiple chambers and entrances, forming extensive underground tunnels 35–81 meters (115–266 ft) long. Families may occupy the same setts for decades. Badgers keep their burrows clean by carrying in fresh bedding and removing old material, and they defecate in latrines placed outside their setts or along travel routes.

Though classified as a carnivoran, the European badger is an omnivore, eating earthworms, large insects, small mammals, carrion, cereals, and tubers. Litters of up to five cubs are born in spring; the young are weaned after a few months but often stay with the family group. Badgers sometimes share their burrows with rabbits, red foxes, and raccoon dogs. Despite this, they can be ferocious when provoked—a trait once exploited in the now-illegal blood sport of badger-baiting. Like many wild and domestic mammals, badgers can carry bovine tuberculosis, which can spread between species and harm cattle. In England, badger populations are culled to try to reduce bovine tuberculosis in cattle, though the practice’s effectiveness is often disputed, and many consider it cruel and inhumane.

The word "badger" has uncertain origins. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it comes from "badge" plus "-ard," referring to the white mark on its forehead that looks like a badge, possibly dating to the early 1500s. Another proposed source is the French *bêcheur* ("digger"). A male badger is a boar, a female a sow, and a young one a cub. A badger’s home is a sett, and groups are often called clans. The older name "brock" (Old English *brocc*, Scots *brock*) is a Celtic loanword (compare Gaelic *broc* and Welsh *broch*, from Proto-Celtic *brokko*) meaning "grey." The Proto-Germanic term was *þahsu-* (compare German *Dachs*, Dutch *das*, Norwegian *svin-toks*; Early Modern English *dasse*), likely from the PIE root *tek'-* ("to construct"), suggesting the badger was named for digging setts. This term became *taxus* or *taxō* in Latin glosses, replacing *mēlēs* ("marten" or "badger"), and evolved into common Romance names (Italian *tasso*, French *tesson/taisson/tasson*—now *blaireau* is more common—Catalan *toixó*, Spanish *tejón*, Portuguese *texugo*), except Asturian *melandru*. Until the mid-1700s, the European badger was known in English as brock, pate, grey, or bawson. "Bawson" comes from "bawsened," meaning striped with white. "Pate" was a local name in northern England. "Badget" was once common only in Norfolk, while "earth dog" was used in southern Ireland. In Welsh, it is often called *mochyn daear* ("earth pig").

Carl Linnaeus gave the scientific name *Ursus meles* in 1758 in his work *Systema Naturae*. The species likely evolved from the Chinese *Meles thorali* of the early Pleistocene. The modern species appeared in the early Middle Pleistocene, based on fossils from sites in Episcopia, Grombasek, Süssenborn, Hundsheim, Erpfingen, Koněprusy, Mosbach 2, and Stránská Skála. Comparisons of fossil and living specimens show a gradual adaptation to omnivory, especially in the larger surface area of the molars and changes in the carnassials. Badger bones are sometimes found in older rock layers because of the animal’s burrowing habits.

In the 1800s and 1900s, several badger type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies. By 2005, eight subspecies were recognized as valid, but four (*canescens*, *arcalus*, *rhodius*, *severzovi*) are now considered part of a separate species, the Caucasian badger (*M. canescens*). A 2009 cranial study comparing European badger skulls from different regions suggested three subspecies: *M. m. millerei* (Baryshnikov et al., 2003) for southwestern Norwegian badgers, *M. m. meles* (Linnaeus, 1758) for main Fennoscandian badgers, and the name *M. m. europaeus* (Desmarest, 1816) proposed for non-Fennoscandian badgers. In 2016, the three-subspecies system was reaffirmed, but the name for non-Fennoscandian badgers was corrected to *M. m. taxus* (Boddaert, 1785). This new taxonomic system can be summarized as follows:

European badgers are powerfully built, with small heads, thick short necks, stocky wedge-shaped bodies, and short tails. Their feet are either plantigrade or semi-digitigrade and short, with five toes on each foot.