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Breeding - from mating to cub birth

Mating takes place in summer and autumn, but the young are not born until the following March or April - as with the Meles meles, delayed implantation occurs. Implantation takes place between December and February, when most of the animals are in a state of winter semi-dormancy. Following 6 weeks normal gestation, the young are then born in nursery dens in March or April, in which the mother will have made a nest of dry bedding material. Females with litters are said to change dens frequently; if the cubs are too young to follow, their mothers may carry them in their jaws.

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Development - from cub to adult

The usual litter size is 2 or 3, although as few as 1 or as many as 5 young may be born. Newborn badgers have a covering of short, soft hair. They are blind and helpless initially, they eyes do not open until they are 4 to 6 weeks old. They are suckled for 6 to 8 weeks or longer, after which the mother will introduce them to solid food by bringing dead rodents and other small mammals to the den. The cubs are playful, and have been observed playing at den entrances.

The young may disperse soon after weaning, or they may remain until the approach of the next breeding season in late summer / autumn. They then seek out home ranges of their own, and their journeys may take them as far as 100 km away from where they were born.

A study in Idaho found that 30% of the female cubs became sexually mature and mated at the age of 4 months, the remainder became sexually mature once they were a year old. The age at which males reach maturity appears to be in dispute, with some authors stating that they can mate in their first year of life, and others saying that they breed as yearlings.

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Longevity - how long American badgers live

Mortality is heavy in the first two years of the badger's life, with starvation being a major cause of death. The American badger does not have many natural enemies, but humans do of course take their toll. Those badgers which survive all of these hazards may however live for quite a long time. The oldest wild badger on record lived to be 14, and several aged between 8 and 10 have been known, while in captivity, one badger is known to have reached 26 years of age.

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References

b001, b003, b004, b012.

Picture credits

The American badger photo used at the head of this Article is a public domain image provided by the US Fish & Wildlife Service; photographer Gary Stolz. Credits for the photos used in the right-hand margin of this page for site navigation can be found on the Credits page.

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