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Photo by Lynn Chamberlain
Photo Copyright Lynn Chamberlain
American Badger
Taxidea taxus
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G5
State (S-rank): S5
External links
General information
The badger, Taxidea taxus, is a medium-sized mammal that is common in appropriate habitat (open areas such as grasslands and deserts) throughout Utah. The overall range of the badger includes much of the western and north-central United States, parts of south-central Canada, and much of Mexico.
The badger has strong legs and long claws on the front feet, which make it a tremendous digger. This digging ability allows the badger to unearth its primary food source, burrowing rodents, such as ground squirrels, gophers, and prairie dogs. Invertebrates, reptiles, and birds may also be consumed when small mammals are rare, however. The species mates in late summer, and litters of two to five young are born in March or April. The badger is primarily nocturnal, but sightings during the day, especially during the early morning, are not uncommon. When inactive during the day and the cold winter months, badgers retreat to underground dens.
Phenology
Usually active day/night; reported as chiefly nocturnal in Caire et al. 1989. In Idaho, rarely stayed underground for more than 24 hours except in winter; one female emerged from winter den only once during 72-day period (Messick and Hornocker 1981).
Species range
Southern Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and southern Ontario), south and west to Texas, and Puebla and Baja California, Mexico (Wozencraft, in Wilson and Reeder 1993; Long, in Wilson and Ruff 1999).
Migration
In Idaho, home ranges of adult males averaged 2.4 square kilometers, whereas those of females averaged 1.6 square kilometers; most young-of-the-year dispersed during their first summer, up to 110 km in males, up to 52 km in females (Messick and Hornocker 1981).In southeastern Wyoming, home ranges averaged 12.3 square kilometers in males, 3.4 square kilometers in females (Goodrich and Buskirk 1998). A female in Minnesota had a summer home range of 7.5 square kilometers and moved to an adjacent, but much smaller area in the winter (Sargeant and Warner 1972). Where favorable habitat is patchier, home ranges can be significantly larger. In southeastern British Columbia, male home ranges averaged 69 square kilometers (fixed kernel method) and those of females averaged 38 square kilometers (Newhouse and Kinley 2000).
Habitat
Prefers open areas and may also frequent brushlands with little groundcover. When inactive, occupies underground burrow. Young are born in underground burrows. In Idaho, activites of females with young (March-May) centered on a sequence of maternal dens (Messick and Hornocker 1981).
Food habits
Feeds primarily on small rodents usually captured by digging out burrow. Ground squirrels often major item in diet, as are pocket gophers, kangaroo rats, priairie dogs, and mice; also eats scorpions, insects, snakes, lizards, and birds, especially when ground squirrel population is low (Messick and Hornocker 1981).
Ecology
Basicaly solitary, though home ranges may overlap (Messick and Hornocker 1981). Density averages 1 per sq mile in prime open country (Long 1973). In southeastern Wyoming, density was 0.8-1.1 per sq km (Goodrich and Buskirk 1998). In Idaho, half of the population was young-of-the-year (Messick and Hornocker 1981).
Reproductive characteristics
Mates mid- to late summer. Implantation is delayed until December-February. One litter averaging 3 (2-5) is born March-early April (probably late May or early June in Kansas). Young leave family group in fall. In Idaho, 30% of young-of-the-year females bred; males were sexually mature as yearlings (Messick and Hornocker 1981).
Threats or limiting factors
Although clearing of forests for agricultural land has probably resulted in some range expansion, cultivation of grassland has undoubtedly caused declines (Soper 1964, Stardom 1979, Lindzey 1982, Messick 1987, Smith 1992, Newhouse and Kinley 1999). Likewise, intensification of agriculture is likely to cause declines in the future. In the west, infill of formerly open woodlands and encroachment of forests into grassland as a result of effective fire suppression has eliminated or degraded much badger habitat (Newhouse and Kinley 1999).Most mortality is caused by vehicles or deliberate killing by humans (Stardom 1979, Messick et al. 1981, Fitzgerald et al. 1994, Newhouse and Kinley 2000, Apps et al. 2002). Badgers may actually be attracted to roads, both because ground squirrels often burrow alongside them (Ketcheson and Bauer 1995), and because they are good travel routes (Warner and Ver Steeg 1995). Badgers are trapped, shot and poisoned because their diggings are thought to cause broken legs in livestock, lead to water loss from irrigation canals, and cause damage to vehicles encountering their burrows (Scobie 2002). Declines may also be related to the persecution of their primary prey, prairie dogs and ground squirrels (Apps et al. 2002). Finley et al. (1976) speculated that some Colorado populations may have declined because of the elimination of prairie dogs.
References
- Biotics Database. 2005. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, NatureServe, and the network of Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers.
- Burt, W. H. and R. P. Grossenheider. 1980. A field guide to the mammals. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 289 pp.
