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| Taxidea taxus (Schreber, 1777) |
The American Badger, Taxidea taxus, is a North American Badger, somewhat similar in appearance to the European Badger. Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber ( Weißensee Thuringia, 1739 — Erlangen, 1810 was a German naturalist. Year 1777 ( MDCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Badger is the Common name for any animal of three subfamilies which belong to the family Mustelidae: the same Mammal family as the
It is found in the western and central United States, northern Mexico and central Canada. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page They are found throughout southwestern British Columbia. This animal prefers dry open areas with deep soils that are easy to dig, such as prairie regions. Prairie, from the French prairie ("meadow" "grassland" "pasture" refers to an area of land of low topographic relief that historically
In Mexico, this animal is sometimes called "tlacoyote". The Spanish word for badger is "tejón", but in Mexico this word is also used to describe coatis. The coati, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as the hog-nosed coon snookum bear and Brazilian Aardvark is a member of the Raccoon family ( Procyonidae This can lead to confusion, for there are both coatis and badgers in Mexico.
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Taxonomy
The American badger is a member of the Mustelidae, a diverse family of carnivorous mammals which also includes the weasel, ferret, and wolverine. Mustelidae or Mustelids (from Latin mustela, Weasel) commonly referred to as the weasel family, is a family of carnivorous Mammals Weasels are Mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. The ferret is a domestic Mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. The American Badger belongs to one of three sub-families of badgers, the other two being the Eurasian Badger and the Honey Badger. The American Badger's closest relative is the prehistoric Chamitataxus. Chamitataxus was a prehistoric Badger Genus belonging to the group Fissipedia.
Recognized sub-species include: Taxidea taxus jacksoni, found in the western Great Lakes region; Taxidea taxus jeffersoni, on the west coast of Canada and the US; and Taxidea taxus berlandieri, in the south-western US and in northern Mexico. The Laurentian Great Lakes are a chain of freshwater lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada–United States border. [2][3]
Description
The American Badger has most of the general characteristics common to badgers; stocky and low-slung with short, powerful legs, they are identifiable by their huge foreclaws (measuring up to 5cm in length) and distinctive head markings. Measuring generally between 60 to 75 cm (23. 6 to 29. 5 inches) in length, males of the species are significantly larger than females (with an average weight of roughly 7 kg (15. 5 pounds) for females and up to almost 9 kg (19. 8 pounds) for males). Northern subspecies such as T. t. jeffersonii are heavier than the southern subspecies. In the fall, when food is plentiful, adult male badgers can exceed 11. 5 kg (25. 3 pounds). [4]
Excluding the head, the American Badger is covered with a grizzled, silvery coat of coarse hair or fur. The American Badger's triangular face shows a distinctive black and white pattern, with brown or blackish "badges" marking the cheeks and a white stripe extending from the nose to the base of the head. In the subspecies T. t. berlandieri, the white head stripe extends the full length of the body, to the base of the tail. [5]
Behavior
The American Badger is a fossorial carnivore. A fossorial is an Organism adapted to digging and life underground such as the Badger, the Naked mole rat, and the mole salamanders Ambystomatidae A carnivore (ˈkɑrnɪvɔər meaning 'meat eater' ( Latin carne meaning 'flesh' and vorare meaning 'to devour' is any animal with a diet consisting It preys on ground squirrels, mice, and other small mammals, often digging to pursue prey into their dens, and sometimes plugging tunnel entrances with objects. The ground squirrels are the members of the Sciuridae most closely related to the Genus Marmota. [6] They also eat birds, snakes and insects. They are mainly active at night, but may be active during the day. They do not hibernate, but become less active in winter. A badger may spend much of the winter in cycles of torpor that last around 29 hours. Torpor is a (usually short-term state of decreased physiological activity in an animal usually characterized by a reduced body temperature and rate of metabolism They do emerge from their dens on warmer days.
Badgers are normally solitary animals for most of the year, but it is thought that in breeding season they expand their territories to actively seek out mates. Males may breed with more than one female. Mating occurs in the summer, but implantation is delayed and the young are born in an underground burrow during late winter. Litters consist of one to five offspring.
American badgers will sometimes form a symbiotic relationship with Coyotes. The coyote (kaɪˈoʊti ˈkaɪoʊt ( Canis latrans) also known as the prairie wolf, is a Mammal of the order Carnivora Because coyotes are not very effective at digging rodents out of their burrows, they will chase the animals while they are above ground. Badgers on the other hand are not fast runners, but are well-adapted to digging. When hunting together, they effectively leave little escape for prey in the area. [7]
Further Information
They have few natural predators other than humans. The numbers of these animals has declined due to persecution by farmers and the extermination of many of their prey in agricultural areas. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed both the American Badger jacksoni subspecies (Taxidea taxus jacksoni) and the jeffersonii subspecies (Taxidea taxus jeffersonii) as an endangered species in Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page
References
- ^ Mustelid Specialist Group (1996). Taxidea taxus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- ^ Taxidea. Retrieved on 2007-08-07. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great.
- ^ Long, Charles A. (1972-06-13). "Taxidea taxus". Journal of Mammalogy 26.
- ^ Feldhamer, George A. ; Bruce Carlyle Thompson, Joseph A. Chapman (2003). Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management, and Conservation. JHU Press, 683. ISBN 0801874165.
- ^ American Society of Mammalogists Staff; Smithsonian Institution Staff (1999). The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. UBC Press, 179. ISBN 0774807628.
- ^ Michener, Gail R. "Hunting techniques and tool use by North American badgers preying on Richardson's ground squirrels". Journal of mammalogy, 2004, vol. 85, no5, pp. 1019-1027.
- ^ Badger-Coyote Associations - Cooperative Hunting by Two Predators
- Shefferly, N. 1999. "Taxidea taxus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 15, 2007 at University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- Whitaker, John O. (1980-10-12). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals. Alfred A. Knopf, 745. ISBN 0394507622.
- Long, Charles A. (1972-11). "Taxonomic Revision of the North American Badger, Taxidea taxus". Journal of Mammalogy 53 (4): 725-759. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
External links
- Miller, Ira. Montana Animal Field Guide. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
- Streube, Donald. American Badger, Idaho Museum of Natural History. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
- American Badger, The University of Texas at El Paso. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
- Steve Jackson's badger page
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