The American badger lives mainly in the Great Plains region of North America. They occur north through the western Canadian provinces. They thrive in suitable habitats throughout the western United States, and south through the mountainous areas of Mexico.
The American Badger prefers open grasslands, fields and pastures.
The badger is most active during the night.
The American Badger digs with its forefeet, which can be seen on the track stamps. The forefoot has much longer claws than the hind feet.
Description
The American badger is between 52 to 88 cm long from head to tail. The tail is between 10-15cm long. An adult American Badger weighs between 4 to 12 kg. Males are usually larger than females.
The badger’s legs are short and thick. The coat on the back The body is flattened and the legs are short and thick. The fur on the animal’s back and sides varies from gray to reddish. The underside is yellowish. The neck and chin are whitish and the face has black spots. A white stripe extends over the back from the tip of the nose to the tail. In northern populations, this stripe ends near the shoulders. Males that live in the north are significantly larger than females and animals that live in the southern populations. During the breeding season, the male and the female’s living areas are expanded. This is because they go out in search of more of their own kind.
It is the males that have the largest areas.
Reproduction
They reproduce once a year. Both the male and the female have multiple mating partners during a breeding season.
Mating takes place in late summer or early autumn. The development of the eggs in the fetus stops until sometime between December and February. Then the embryo attaches to the uterine wall and resumes development. From the time of conception until the pups are born, it takes about 7 months, but the female is only pregnant for six weeks. The litter consists of 1-5 offspring, most often with three.
They are born in early spring. A female is ready to mate when she is four months old. Most mate when they are over a year old. The males wait until the autumn of the year they turn two years old. After 2-3 months, they are weaned off nursing from the mother and learn to eat regular food. An American badger becomes independent around 5-6 months.
Badgers live in a system of interconnected tunnels and chambers called a sett. It consists of a system of long passages and burrows. The largest setts consist of hundreds of meters of corridors on several levels. There are often several badger families living together. The young are born white and stay in the pot until the autumn.
Badgers are born blind and helpless with a thin coat. When they are 4-6 weeks old, they open their eyes for the first time. When they become 5-6 weeks old, the mother lets them come out of the nest.
In captivity, there have been badgers who have turned 26 years old. The average age achieved outdoors in the wild is somewhere between 5-10 years. The oldest known American badger who lived freely in the wild became 14 years old.