by Melanie B. Fullman, US Forest Service

At first glance, the passing Forest Service employee thought the little guy (girl?) in the middle of a Forest Road was a porcupine. Then he noticed the stripe on its head. Skunk??? Either way, it wasn’t wise for it to be there, so he stopped and decided to encourage it back into the woods.

But instead of it being a skunk or a porcupine, the curious cutie was a baby badger. Its mom was spotted a few minutes later, tending to another youngster. She watched warily from a distance, probably a bit unpleased with both her offspring and the unwanted attention. Soon, the wayward one was back where it belonged and our employee had enjoyed a view few of us will ever get: live, wild badgers.

North American badgers are uncommon and mostly nocturnal, making them an unlikely photography subject. They live primarily in the Great Plains, with a range that extends north through central western Canada and south into the mountains of Mexico. For the past century, they have also been expanding their range eastward, into the dry, open grasslands, fields, and pastures of Ontario.

Badgers weigh from 8 – 26+ pounds and grow to almost 3’. Their bodies are flattened with short, stocky legs, making them more wide than tall. As indicated by our employee’s initial misidentification, their coloring can be sandy brown to gray to red, and thus similar to other, and far more common, northern woodland critters such as porcupines, raccoons, and foxes.

The badger face, however, is unmistakable with a distinctive white stripe from the nose over the head. In northern populations, the stripe ends near the shoulders (like in the photo); in southern populations, it may continue all the way back to the rump. The throat and chin are white and the face has black patches. Males are significantly larger than females and animals from northern populations are larger than those from the south.

Badgers also have keen vision, scent, and hearing. They have special nerve endings in their foreclaws that may make them especially sensitive to touch, but this has not been thoroughly researched. Not much is known about communication between badgers either, but it is likely they mark their home ranges with scent.

Badgers breed once a year in late summer or early autumn. Interestingly, implantation of the embryo in the uterus is delayed until as late as February. So while a female badger is technically pregnant for 7 months, gestation is a mere 6 weeks. Litters of 1-5 are born in early spring. Mom weans them at 2-3 months and they can be on their own before their 6-month birthday.

During the fall breeding season, the home range of both males and females expands, as they travel more extensively to find mates. Like many animals, the males have larger home ranges that overlap with the home ranges of several females.

Before giving birth, pregnant female badgers prepare a grass-lined den. Baby badger eyes open at 4 to 6 weeks, with them emerging from the den as early as 5 to 6 weeks old. The average lifespan in the wild is about 5 years, with a typically high rate of mortality the first year at 35%. The oldest known wild badger lived to be 14.

Other than playing Wisconsin football, badgers are probably best known for their very fast digging. Powerful forelimbs allow them to tunnel rapidly through just about anything. There are numerous accounts of them emerging from holes that they have excavated through blacktopped pavement and two inch concrete. Other than the nuisance factor, the major risk to people (and livestock) is stepping in a badger hole.

Burrows are usually built in the pursuit of prey. A typical den may extend 9 feet below the surface, contain 30+ feet of tunnels, and have an enlarged chamber for sleeping. Badgers often use multiple burrows within a home range and may not use the same burrow more than once a month. In the summer, badgers often dig a new burrow each day. Despite their reputation as being "aggressive", they don’t appear to defend a home territory.

Badgers prefer to live quiet, solitary lives. A typical population density is 1 animal per 50 acres. They are active mainly at night and inactive during the winter. Although they do not hibernate, they spend much of the winter season in cycles of torpor that last about 29 hours. During torpor, their body temperature falls to about 48 degrees and their heart beats at about half its normal rate. Like raccoons, squirrels, and other non-hibernators, they will emerge from their dens for short periods on the nicest winter days.

Just about anything a badger can find and/or dig out is food, especially pocket gophers, ground squirrels, moles, marmots, prairie dogs, woodrats, kangaroo rats, deer mice, and voles. They also eat ground nesting birds and their eggs, lizards, amphibians, fish, hibernating skunks, insects - including bees and honeycomb, and corn and sunflower seeds. This omnivorous diet makes them important in their ecosystem, helping control rodent, insect, and venomous snake populations. In addition, their abundant burrow building provides shelter for other species and helps soil development.

Natural predation on badgers is rare. Habitat destruction, trapping, hunting, poisoning, and being run over are their greatest threats. They are an occasional food choice of eagles, and bobcats, and less often, coyotes, wolves, and bears.

Badgers and coyotes are even known to play and hunt together in an apparently cooperative manner. As noted above, badgers can readily dig rodents out of burrows but can’t really run them down. Coyotes, on the other hand, are easily able to snap up scampering squirrels and such, but can’t dig them out. When badgers and coyotes hunt in the same area at the same time, they accidentally (or on purpose?) increase the number of rodents available to each other. Either way, they clearly tolerate each other's presence and may seek out such mutually-beneficial relationships.

Human and pets are a different matter. Badgers are likely to perceive our presence as a threat and will aggressively defend their young and burrow (especially if young are present in it). In the unlikely event that you get to see one, it is important to realize that snarling and growling are their way of saying "go away". The appropriate thing to do is take your pet(s) and leave. They aren’t going to chase you down (see short, stocky legs earlier…) so there’s no reason to "badger" them.

Forest Service employees know that working in the woods is rewarding far beyond a paycheck, like coming back to the office with badger pictures! I just never expected to write an article on badgers because of their rarity. So seeing those photos made me (jealous and) motivated.

I hope to see YOU in the woods, too.

PS Just a quick reminder that National Trails Day is this Saturday, June 4. Please contact me if you would like to volunteer on a local trail project (mfullman@fs.fed.us, 932-1330 x539). The annual Breeding Bird Census is also this weekend; call District Biologist Brian Bogaczyk at x509 for more information.

Bessemer District Ranger, Ottawa NF