Animal Field Guide

Badger

Taxidea taxus
(Mustelidae)

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S4

Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS: none
BLM: none

Remarkably adapted morphologically for burrowing and feeding on burrowing prey. A stout, compact, heavy-bodied animal built low to the ground, with partially webbed toes and long claws to aid in digging. It is the only true fossorial carnivore in North America and thus unique in appearance. A yellowish-gray mammal with a white stripe over the top of its head, white cheeks, black feet, and a black spot in front of each ear. The belly and short tail are yellowish. Pelage is composed of under-fur with longer guard hairs. Because of their shaggy coat and short stature, badgers appear to flow along the ground. Total length: 22 to 28 inches. Weight: 13 to 25 pounds (FWP). A heavy-bodied, short-legged mammal with long fore claws, long fur (longest on the sides), and a short bushy tail; upperparts are yellowish gray to reddish brown, with a white middorsal stripe extending from the snout to the neck or shoulders in the north and usually to the rump in the south; black patches are present on the face and cheeks; underparts are buffy, except for the whitish chin, throat, and mid-ventral region; feet are dark brown to black; head and body length 42-72 cm, tail length 10-15.5 cm, mass 4-12 kg (Nowak 1991).

Other north american mammals of similar size and shape (low flat profile) include skunks and wolverine; differs from skunks in lacking extensive black pelage, differs from wolverine in having a white middorsal head stripe.

Relatively little recent demand for pelt, which is of variable quality (Caire et al. 1989). In the early 1980s, an annual average of about 10,000 pelts, with an average value of about $10.00, was reported taken in the U.S. and Canada (Nowak 1991). Valued in helping control populations of rodents deemed undesireable by some ranchers.

Nonmigratory.

Prefers open grasslands, shrub/grasslands, and deserts. Non-forested habitats with soils suitable for burrowing and support of fossorial prey are favored. Mostly nocturnal, but also active during the day. Efficient digger, digs out small rodents. Dens in burrows of its own making.

Very efficient predator of fossorial and semifossorial prey. However, an opportunistic feeder and supplements its diet with a variety of mammals, birds, eggs, reptilies, amphibians, and plants.

Breeds from May through August; delayed implantation; young born in February to May; litter size ranges from one to four.