Why are badgers nocturnal

The honey badger might get the spotlight for its famously grumpy attitude , but the American badger can be just as ornery. These members of the skunk and weasel family are widespread, ranging from British Columbia throughout western Canada and the U. Like all badgers, this species is fierce and built for defense, with thick, loose fur and skin and muscular necks that makes them harder to catch.

Long, curved front claws on webbed front feet and shovel-like back claws help the mammals dig into burrows for prey, and strong jaws and sharp teeth serve to rip an animal apart. Badgers are carnivores, chowing down on insects, prairie dogs, mice, ground-dwelling birds, and groundhogs.

Superb diggers, these animals will sometimes will cache food for later use and in one remarkable case, even an entire cow. Their fluffy faces and waddle-walk may seem pretty cute, but badgers keep some very tough company.

In some parts of the U. In these short-term alliances, the badger takes advantage of prey driven underground by the coyote, while the coyote benefits from burrowing prey, like ground squirrels, chased above ground by the badger. T his is an example of mutualism , in which animals of different species work together to meet their individual needs.

These nocturnal predators prefer open areas, and sleep in dens during the day. The species is solitary until mating season, which is late summer to early autumn. Their average life-span in the wild is four to five years, and the longevity record for a wild American badger is 14 years.

The eyes will be black. Badgers have been living side by side with hedgehogs for centuries but will occasionally prey on them if their main food sources of worms and grubs are not abundant. Hedgehogs are currently undergoing a sharp decline in rural habitats and unfairly, badgers are often blamed.

A report on hedgehog declines read here , owed the reduction of rural hedgehogs to mainly habitat loss, through the intensification of agriculture and fewer hedgerows. This habitat reduction is more than likely affecting badgers as well. More work needs to be done to maintain natural habitats and to re-establish a balanced ecosystem for all species. The fascinating lives of badgers. Play Video. Badger bringing in fresh bedding at night. Scent marking. It's Badger Cub Season!

Badgers and foxes. Watch Now. Share Channel Info Close. Badger behaviour. Diet The diet of a badger is extremely varied, with badgers being described by expert Professor Tim Roper as "opportunistic omnivores". Did you know? Badgers setts. Badger biology. Straw, bracken, dry leaves etc. Near the sett there is usually a "scratching tree", engraved with sets of parallel claw marks.

Sharpening claws keep them in good condition for digging. Before going off to forage for food along well-used paths throughout their territory, badgers may spend some time around their sett. Half-grown cubs enjoy playing with each other, chasing, jumping and tumbling - the adults often join them. They like to groom each other too. Badgers in the same group recognise each other by scent; one badger "musks" another by backing onto it with its tail raised to secrete a strong-smelling liquid from a gland under its tail.

This helps them to survive the winter. It will also hunt down beehives to get to the honey, hence its common name and scientific name — Mellivora means "honey eater. Though badgers mate any time they feel like it, they only have one litter per year due to delayed implantation.

Badgers give birth in mid- to late winter between birth to between January and March. One to five babies are born at one time in the underground chambers. Baby badgers, like baby bears, are called cubs.

Cubs remain in the birthing chamber until they are about eight weeks old, according to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. The American badger , for example, has a population of several hundred thousand in the United States. The hog badger is listed as near threatened because of a population decline of less than 30 percent over three generations.

It is severely threatened in some areas, such as Laos, Vietnam, China and Myanmar. Honey badgers became popular due to a YouTube video with a humorous voiceover.