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Dens

The badgers, with their well developed forelegs, and long, strong claws on their fore paws, are well adapted for digging. All of the badger species put their digging skills to good use by excavating burrows or setts, for shelter from the elements and protection from enemies while they are resting or rearing their young.

The burrows dug by most of the world's badgers are fairly simple affairs, with a single tunnel ending in a sleeping or nursery chamber. The American badger's dens are sometimes a little more complex, particularly the breeding dens, which may have a few side tunnels branching off from the main burrow. It is however the Eurasian badger which takes the prize for the largest and most complex dens. The setts dug by this species are often occupied for many years by generations of badgers, and are continually enlarged. Large setts may have 20 or more entrance holes (as many as 100 in a few cases!), with many metres of interconnecting tunnels on two or three levels, and many chambers.

This is not to say that the other badgers are slackers when it comes to excavating burrows. The American badger and the honey badger both occupy large home ranges, and therefore need more than one or two dens. In fact, they will often spend almost every night in a different den, and readily dig new burrows when needed.

Most of the world's badgers will also make use of burrows dug by other species, enlarging them if necessary. (Conversely, many badger dens around the world are also used by other species of mammals and some birds.)

Although they are master excavators, badgers don't always sleep underground. The Eurasian badger is known to sleep above ground in 'day nests' or 'couches' from time time to time. On one occasion, a family of Eurasian badgers, forced out of their sett by flooding, were seen (and photographed) sleeping together in a tree! The Chinese ferret badger has also been observed sleeping in trees, through choice rather than necessity.

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Picture credits

The photo of the badger footprint used at the head of this Article is © Steve Jackson. 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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