European badger

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European badger
European badger (Meles meles) vocalizations? / I

European badger ( Meles meles ) vocalizations ? / i
Audio file / audio sample

Systematics
Subordination : Canine (Caniformia)
Superfamily : Marten relatives (Musteloidea)
Family : Marten (Mustelidae)
Subfamily : Badgers (Melinae)
Genre : Meles
Type : European badger
Scientific name
Meles meles
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The European badger ( Meles meles ) is a predator from the family of the Marder and one of four species of the genus Meles , in a still to early 2000s kind were summarized. The badger is also popularly referred to - especially in fable - as the "grim beard".

The distribution area stretches across Europe as well as eastwards to the Volga, the Caucasus and Afghanistan. Badgers in other areas of Asia, which have long been listed as subspecies, have now been assigned species status . The badger mostly inhabits hilly, wooded and wooded landscapes, where he builds his extensive burrows mostly on slopes. He uses a very wide range of foods, which, depending on the season, can consist more of animal or vegetable food. Earthworms make up a large proportion, but insects, small mammals, field crops and berries are also eaten.

description

Badger paw
Step seal on a badger.
Skull of a badger from the collection of the Wiesbaden Museum
3 · 1 · 4th · 1  =  38
3 · 1 · 4th · 2
Dental formula of the badger

The badger is a compact, stocky marten with a slender head, a trunk-like snout and powerful digging paws. The length of the head body is between 64 and 88 cm, the tail length between 11 and 18 cm. The weight is on average between 7 and 14 kg, less often up to 17 kg. Females are on average smaller and lighter. Outwardly, the sexes differ only slightly. Males are usually heavier, more powerfully built with a wider, more rounded skull. In profile, the muzzle looks more blunt, the head overall shorter and the neck fuller. In addition, the tail is often thinner and thicker with white hairs. The female is slimmer with a narrower, flatter head.

The black and white drawing of the head is characteristic of the badger. This is predominantly white on the top, including the lips and chin. From the corners of the mouth, however, black stripes run straight up and then on both sides of the muzzle backwards and widen over the eyes and the white-rimmed ears to the nape of the neck, where they become lighter and merge into the silvery gray of the top and flanks . The latter can have a straw yellow hue. The individual hairs on the upper side are light and only darkly colored on the subterminal third. The guard hairs sometimes reach a length of up to 11 cm, on the flanks up to 12 cm. The entire underside including the throat and the underside of the neck is black-brown with a particularly brownish tone on the stomach. On this and in the groin area, the hair growth is sometimes quite thin, so that the bare skin shines through. Badgers in the first year show the clearest contrasts in color, older badgers are becoming increasingly lighter.

The rather small eyes show a dark brown iris and round pupils. The trunk-like nose protrudes at least 1.5 cm above the lower lip. The front paws have long, horn-colored, downwardly curved claws that are well suited for digging and twice as long as those of the rear paws. The species is not a pure sole-goer . When stepping on, only the balls of the fingers and the ball of the hand rest on the floor, while the ball of the carpal - similar to the toe walkers - does not touch it. The badger's skull, up to 154 mm long, is massive and heavy and has a crest up to 16 mm high. The fangs are not very pronounced, the teeth are primarily designed for cutting and grinding activities. The tooth formula is I 3/3 - C 1/1 - P 4/4 M 1/2. However, deviations from the usual total of 38 teeth are not uncommon as the first premolars are often not formed.

As with all Mustelidae , this species has two anal sacs and a 2–6 cm deep and wide subcaudal gland between the tail root and anus. The secretion is used to mark territorial boundaries and materials in the vicinity of the building as well as conspecifics. Presumably, information about the group membership of the animals is transmitted. Females generally have three pairs of teats, less often fewer or more.

Badgers can live up to 15 years in captivity.

distribution

Distribution of the European badger and the Transcaucasian badger

The distribution area of ​​the European badger extends from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula eastwards to the Volga and the foothills of the Caucasus . The badger populations south of the foothills of the Caucasus and Central Asia are now included in the Transcaucasian badger ( M. canescens ). There are gaps in occurrence in Europe on some of the more northerly British Isles, the West Frisian Islands , Flanders and the Italian Po Valley . The northern limit of the area extends in northern Europe west of the Baltic Sea to around 65 ° N, and to the east of it sometimes to 66 ° N. A slight area expansion to the north has presumably also taken place here. In the south, the distribution extends to the Mediterranean, where the badger is absent on most of the islands with the exception of the Balearic Islands , Crete and Rhodes .

Systematics

Until the late 1990s, the badger was considered the only recent species in the genus Meles . More recent morphological studies of the baculum and molars as well as studies of the mitochondrial DNA have shown that the four subspecies groups described so far each deserve species status. The species was therefore divided into the European badger ( Meles meles ), the Asian badger ( Meles leucurus ), the Transcaucasian badger ( Meles canescens ) and the Japanese badger ( Meles anakuma ).

Geographic variation

Due to the overall size, the dimensions of the skull and the dimensions and characteristics of the molars and baculum, numerous subspecies have been described, four of which are recognized today. Another varying feature is the coloring of the upper side, which is more brownish in some subspecies, as well as that of the flanks, which in some populations are strongly tinged yellow. The eastern form M. m. heptneri leads to the Asian badger ( Meles leucurus ) in several characteristics .

habitat

The badger mostly inhabits hilly, richly structured landscapes with forests, woods or hedges. Mixed deciduous forests with a pronounced shrub layer are preferred. Large, closed forest areas, pure conifer stands , dune landscapes and extensive wetlands are largely avoided . The badger is rarely found near settlements. Buildings are often made in forest edge habitats and on slopes that are often south or west facing. It is not uncommon for open, agriculturally used areas to be sought for food. These can be located within several hundred meters of the structure.

The upper limit of the altitude distribution is mostly 1200–1700 m, the species is rarely found at higher altitudes up to 2000 m in the Alps or 2500 m in the Caucasus. However, there are only very rarely burrows here, most of them are evidence of individual animals.

nutrition

In contrast to other mustelids, the badger is not a definite carnivore and at times uses the seasonal offer of vegetable food almost exclusively. The main diet, however, consists of earthworms , which can make up up to 50% of the diet in spring. When these are hardly available in summer and autumn due to the dryness of the soil, other food sources are increasingly used.

The rest of the food spectrum, however, is very broad. In addition to earthworms, insects and, in particular, the adults of hymenoptera , larvae of cockchafer and dung beetles , moths and ground beetles make up a large proportion of animal food, but also representatives of other groups of beetles and insects. Other invertebrates such as snails or mussels play a subordinate role. Among the small mammals, voles in particular are represented with a large proportion . Shrews , moles or young wild rabbits are less common prey. When they encounter hedgehogs , they are able to roll them up and eat them by sticking their snouts into the small gap on the belly of a curled up hedgehog. Therefore they are one of the biggest predators in Central Europe alongside the eagle owls . Larger mammals are only taken in as carrion . This also applies to birds, but they also eat nestlings or eggs. Amphibians, reptiles and fish are more likely to be prey by chance, but in some places they can also make up a high proportion of food by weight.

With the vegetable diet, which plays a role especially in summer and autumn, the seasonal offer is used, which can consist of grain, maize and field crops of all kinds, fruit, berries, seeds, roots and tubers. Game damage can occur in maize in particular . In fattening years , acorns are used intensively as food.

behavior

Badgers before their construction on a drawing by Walter Heubach
European badgers before their construction with mutual grooming

The badger digs a burrow in the forest floor that is usually larger than that of the fox. Badger burrows can be decades old and take on enormous dimensions with several floors. Badgers like to go deep. The living boiler, which is connected to the surface via numerous corridors, is about five meters deep. These passages are used for air supply and as entrances and exits. In contrast to the fox, the badger upholstery the basin of its burrow with dry leaves, moss or ferns.

A badger den can be used for decades or longer. Each generation expands it and adds more living quarters. A badger den studied in England comprised 50 chambers and 178 entrances, which were connected by a total of 879 meters of tunnel. A permanent settlement of over 10,000 years is assumed for a building examined near Malchin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The distinction between a badger's den and a fox's den is simple in that so-called badger steps are regularly found in the vicinity of badger burrows . The badger puts its excrement in small holes in the ground that it has dug for this purpose. Another typical feature is the well-worn channel ( loop ) at the entrance to the building, which turns into a clearly recognizable path (Dachs Pass ). It is not uncommon for fox and badger to live in the burrows together.

Badgers are mostly nocturnal. In the colder regions they hibernate , which depending on the weather conditions can last from a few days to several months with interruptions.

Reproduction

Although one case of first year pregnancy has been described, female badgers are likely to become sexually mature in their second year of life. However, the pregnancy rate and litter size are lower in annuals than in perennial animals. Males are thought to reach sexual maturity between 13 and 18 months of age.

Promiscuity or polyandry prevails within a clan . During an oestrus , a female can mate with several males in a row, but also several times with the same male. Males sometimes leave the clan to mate with females from another clan. Copulations can be observed throughout the year, but most and longest lasting between February and May - that is, in the period after the birth of the young. The pairing is sometimes preceded by various vocalizations, tail lifting and mutual marking with the anal glands. The duration of copulation varies between a few minutes and up to an hour. Mostly it obviously takes place outside the building.

As with some other species of marten, the badger's gestation period is longer due to dormancy and delayed nidation - a fact that has led to many contradicting statements in the literature about mating times and the length of gestation. If the egg cell is fertilized, it initially only develops into a blastocyst . Except for the growth of the zona pellucida, it then rests until winter. In this phase before the actual gestation period, ovulation , oestrus behavior and copulation continue to occur. However, further blastocysts apparently only form in rare cases. It is only between the beginning of December and mid-January that the egg cell then nests in the uterine lining and continues to develop regularly. The following gestation period is 45 days, so most boys are born between late winter and late spring. The date varies geographically and partly also according to the altitude; in Central Europe, most boys are born in early March.

A litter consists of one to five, but usually two or three boys. At birth, they are 120–180 mm long, weigh an average of 90 to 110 g, are covered with a thin, whitish coat and are blind. After just one week, the coat develops the initially weak, species-typical color with a black and white face mask, the eyes only open after four to five weeks. At the age of six to seven weeks the young move freely in the corridors of the burrow, but usually only leave it for the first time after nine to ten weeks. They are suckled for at least twelve weeks; if there is a shortage of food, the suckling period can extend into summer. The dentition develops within 15 to 17 weeks. The increase in weight and size takes place rapidly and steadily until December. Within nine to ten months, the young are about as heavy as adults, but do not yet reach their winter weight. From January onwards there is usually weight loss, as the boys feed on their fat reserves.

The boys usually stay in the clan until they are two years old, then they begin to migrate. This happens more often in females than in males. Some animals stay with their original family permanently.

Diseases

Aelurostrongylus falciformis is a parasite that causes lung damage. Endangerment from the fox mare .

Man and badger

Tamed badger on the prowl, Sorau 1930
Pharmacy jar for storing badger fat from around the 19th century
Postage stamp 1968 , welfare stamp

Once the badger was of great importance to humans in many ways, but it is hardly today. Badger meat is eaten in some regions. Badger fat or badger lard (the fat left out from the badger's fatty tissue) was a standard item as rub-in against rheumatism in medieval and early modern pharmacies, for example . Badger hair was made for brushes and is still used today for high-quality shaving brushes , the so-called badger pluck. Badger brushes are used in painting . Today this processing has become rare. Badger hair today mostly comes from China. A badger's beard adorned the hunter's hat. Tamed badgers could also be used as browsing animals, such as dachshunds, as the photo by the Sorauer hunter H. Gerner shows.

The massive, officially ordered fumigation of red fox burrows led to a dramatic decline in the number of badgers in Germany until the 1970s. The populations have since recovered and the badger is quite common again in places. In most federal states, the Federal Hunting Act z. T. different, different hunting seasons. Here hunters argued with the harmfulness of the badger for small game . However, the hunter rarely succeeds in shooting the nocturnal and vigilant badger during the short hunting season. The badger is often hunted by trapping . The hunting range has increased continuously in recent years and was already over 50,000 animals again in 2009. If one takes the hunting statistics as a basis, there seem to be strong differences within Germany and southern Germany by far has the largest population. The annual shooting in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg made up 42 percent of the total German hunting range in each of the last five hunting years. In 2015/16 this was around 71,100 individuals. In the new federal states the proportion with a total of 15,700 animals was 22 percent of the total distance and thus still below the distance in Bavaria with 18,700 badgers. In 2015/16 the Austrian hunting range was around 8,000 badgers and the Swiss range was 3,500 animals. In the hunter's language the badger is called "Schmalzmann".

Badgers are particularly important in veterinary medicine as a vector of bovine tuberculosis in the British Isles. In England in June 2013, due to the sharp increase in tuberculosis cases in cattle, a program to decimate the badger population through hunting was started, which, however, met with protests from animal rights activists. Targeted hunting is to take place primarily in the counties of Somerset , Gloucestershire , Worcestershire , Herefordshire and Dorset . In Wales, attempts are being made to address this problem by vaccinating badgers.

The badger was 2010 Wildlife of the Year in Germany and Austria.

etymology

The word badger comes from Middle High German / Old High German dahs , probably from Germanic θahsu (related to late Latin taxus / taxo and Middle Latin daxus ) from the Indo-European word stem taks (to build) or teks (to room). The animal can therefore have been named after its architecture (compare also old Indian táksati "zimmert, manufactures", táksan "carpenter", and Greek tékton "carpenter").

The term young badger is an outdated slang term for an inexperienced young man. The rascal has probably nothing to do with the roof, see impudence #Frechdachs .

literature

  • Ilse Haseder , Gerhard Stinglwagner : Knaurs Großes Jagdlexikon , Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-1579-5
  • P. Lüps, AI Wandeler: Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) - badger. In: Michael Stubbe, Franz Krapp (Ed.): Handbook of Mammals in Europe , Predatory Mammals (Part 2). Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden 1993, ISBN 978-3-89104-029-4 , pp. 856-906.
  • Dieter Mehlhardt: The badger. Life picture of a native wild mammal. Natural history correspondence, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 1947.
  • Earnest G. Neal: The Natural History of Badgers. Croom Helm Ltd., London / Sidney 1986, ISBN 0-7099-1831-3 .
  • Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 .

Web links

Commons : European Badger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Badger  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder, et al .: Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference , 3rd Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
  2. ↑ a b c d e Alexei V. Abramov & Andrey Yu. Puzachenko: The taxonomic status of badgers (Mammalia, Mustelidae) from Southwest Asia based on cranial morphometrics, with the redescription of Meles canescens. Zootaxa 3681 (1): 044-058, Jun. 2013, doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3681.1.2
  3. ↑ Neal (1986), pp. 29f, s. literature
  4. ↑ Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 889 and Neal (1986), S16, see literature
  5. ^ Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the assistance of eleven specialist scientists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, p. 181
  6. ↑ Alexei V. Abramov: Variation of the baculum structure of the Palearctic badger (Carnivora, Mustelidae, Meles) , Russian Journal of Theriology 1/2002, pp. 57-60, PDF
  7. ^ A b Gennady F. Baryshnikov, Andrey Yu. Puzachenko, Alexei V. Abramov: New analysis of variability of cheek teeth in Eurasian badgers (Carnivora, Mustelidae, Meles) , Russian Journal of Theriology, 2002, 1 (2), pp. 133-149
  8. ↑ Naoko Kurose, Yayoi Kaneko, Alexei V. Abramov, Boripat Siriaroonrat, Ryuichi Masuda: Low genetic diversity in Japanese populations of the Eurasian badger Meles meles (Mustelidae, Carnivora) revealed by mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences . Zoological Science 18, 2001, pp. 1145-1152.
  9. ↑ Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 865, s. literature
  10. ↑ Haseder, p. 150
  11. ↑ Badger family causes bone discovery sensation. Nordkurier, June 5, 2018, accessed September 30, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 881, see literature
  13. ↑ a b Neal (1986), p. 162, see literature
  14. ↑ Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 883, see literature
  15. ↑ Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 897, see literature
  16. ↑ Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 881f, see literature
  17. ↑ Neal (1986), p. 159f, see literature
  18. ↑ Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 882, see literature
  19. ↑ a b c d Lüps / Wandeler (1993), p. 886 f, see literature
  20. ↑ Neal (1986), p. 164, see literature
  21. ↑ Neal (1986), p. 166 f, see literature
  22. ↑ Neal (1986), pp. 165f, see literature
  23. ↑ Neal (1986), p. 170, see literature
  24. ^ Roy C. Anderson: Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Their Development and Transmission . CABI, 2000, ISBN 978-0-85199-786-5 , pp. 164 .
  25. ↑ Vienna study on the edibility of badger meat
  26. ↑ Dieter Lehmann: Two medical prescription books of the 15th century from the Upper Rhine. Part I: Text and Glossary. Horst Wellm, Pattensen / Han. 1985, now at Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 34), ISBN 3-921456-63-0 , p. 166.
  27. ↑ See also Jürgen Martin: Die 'Ulmer Wundarznei'. Introduction - Text - Glossary on a monument to German specialist prose from the 15th century. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1991 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 52), ISBN 3-88479-801-4 (also medical dissertation Würzburg 1990), p. 124 ( dahssmalz ).
  28. ↑ See also Christian Hünemörder , Gundolf Keil : Dachs. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Munich / Zurich 1977 ff., Volume 3, 1986, Col. 427 f.
  29. ^ Paul Müller, Klaus Pohlmeyer, Klaus Höppner: Wildlife information system of the countries of Germany. Germany-wide monitoring of wild animal species - Annual Report 2003 ( Memento of September 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.0 MB) p. 31.
  30. ↑ Committee against Bird Murder e. V .: Annual hunting route 2009 ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.komitee.de
  31. ↑ Annual Dachse route , accessed on August 4, 2017
  32. ^ German hunting lexicon
  33. ↑ Badger cull given go ahead in two test areas. BBC News, May 31, 2013, accessed June 1, 2013 .
  34. ↑ Anti-badger cull rally held in London as pilot culls begin. BBC News, June 1, 2013, accessed June 1, 2013 .
  35. ↑ Badger cull zone injunction bid made by NFU. BBC News, August 22, 2013, accessed August 22, 2013 .
  36. ↑ Badger cull ruled legal in England. The Guardian, July 12, 2013, accessed July 12, 2013 .
  37. ↑ Animal of the Year 2010 ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the Schutzgemeinschaft Deutsches Wild, accessed on December 3, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sdwi.de
  38. ↑ Animal of the Year 2010 ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the Naturschutzbund Österreich, accessed on March 23, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.naturschutzbund.at
  39. ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th ed., Ed. by Walther Mitzka , De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 119.
  40. ↑ Hans-Dieter Willkomm: The Weidmann language. Terms, expressions and changes in meaning in the heathen language. Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-331-00434-0 , pp. 180-186.
  41. ↑ The Grosse Duden in 9 volumes: Etymology . Bibliographical Institute, 1968, p. 97 , Dachs ( google.de [accessed April 17, 2018]).
  42. ↑ Duden | Badger | Spelling, meaning, definition, origin. Retrieved April 17, 2018 .