Description

This badger has a stocky 3-foot-long body, short tail and short but powerful legs armed with strong claws on the front feet. Average weight is 22 to 35 pounds, with males being only slightly larger and heavier than females. The coloration is grayish on the body, being darker gray to almost black on the legs. It is distinguished from other badgers by the markings on its head -- the majority of the face is white, with two black stripes, one on each side of the head, running laterally across the face, from the nose, over the eyes, to the base of the ears (the American badger, by contrast, has a dark-colored face with a single white stripe).

Distribution and Habitat

The Eurasian badger is found throughout Europe and Asia, as far north as Norway and Sweden, as far east as Japan, and as far south as southern China. It prefers densely forested areas adjacent to areas of wide open fields, but will live almost anywhere, including coastal habitats and even urban areas.

Diet

Badgers are opportunistic and omnivorous feeders. They dine on a wide variety of invertebrates (earthworms, insects, mollusks, beetle and wasp larvae), rodents, ground-nesting birds, small reptiles, frogs, and carrion. Vegetable foods include acorns, nuts, berries, fruits, seeds, cereal grains, tubers, roots, bulbs, and mushrooms.

Social Behavior

European badgers live in clans of up to 20 or so individuals, w