Badger (Meles meles)
Badgers are nocturnal and elusive, but remain one of the UK's favourite mammals. Like humans, they are omnivorous, although unlike us, they eat several hundred earthworms every night.
What do they sound like?
Watch video clips from past programmes (1 clip)
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Brighton's night badgers
The Nature of Britain
Alan Titchmarsh has an intimate encounter with a group of urban badgers visiting a back garden.
About the Badger
The European Badger (Meles meles), or Eurasian badger, is a mammal indigenous to most of Europe (excluding northern Scandinavia, Iceland, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Cyprus) and to many parts of Asia, from about 15° to 65° North, and from about 10° West to 135° East. It is a member of the Mustelidae family, and so is related to the stoats, otters, weasels, minks and other badgers. Accepted subspecies include Meles meles meles (Western Europe), Meles meles marianensis (Spain and Portugal), Meles meles leptorynchus (Russia), Meles meles leucurus (China and Tibet), and Meles meles anakuma (Japan).
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Common Names
- Eurasian badger
- European badger
The Badger is
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
This region contains the following habitats:
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder
Conservation Status
The Badger is Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Stable
Year assessed: 2008
Elsewhere on the web
- Badger - Meles meles (arkive.org)
- Meles meles (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- The Mammal Society fact sheet (abdn.ac.uk)
- Badger Trust: news and information (badger.org.uk)
- European Badger (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
© MMIX
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