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Tracks - recognition

A badger footprint is very distinctive. It consists of a broad, kidney-shaped pad with five toes lined up in front. The prints of the front feet are larger than those of the back feet, and the imprints of the ends of the claws are further away from the toes of the front feet as the claws are much longer than those on the hind feet.

Often the fifth toe (the inner toe), which is slightly smaller and set further back than the other four, does not show up, and the print may then have only four toe marks. The fact that the toes are arranged in a line clearly identifies the print as badger though; dogs, foxes and cats also have four-toed prints, but their toes are arranged in an arc around an oval or three-lobed pad.

The size of the prints varies with the size of the animal. The tracks of the fore paws of adult badgers range from 4.5 cm up to as much as 6.5 cm in width in the case of very large boars. Most tracks will fall somewhere between these extremes. The tracks left by the hind paws meanwhile are usually about 0.5 cm narrower than those of the fore paws.

Sometimes badgers leave prints with 8 - 10 toes in front of the pad! This is because when the badger walks it places its hind feet almost exactly on top of where it placed its front feet. The resulting prints are a combination of the toes of the front foot and the toes and pad of the back foot.

Pictures © Steve Jackson. See the Photo File for the track of the badger forepaw.

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Tracks as signs of badger activity

If the ground in and around the entrances to a badger sett is at all soft, wet or muddy, then you will almost certainly find fresh badger footprints if badgers are using the sett. Badger prints can also be found away from the sett wherever badgers have walked through soft or muddy ground.

Badger prints found in fresh mud are clear evidence of very recent activity, but obviously prints found in hardened mud were formed before the mud dried out. While they indicate that badgers have been active in the not-too-distant past they are not signs of current activity.

Of course, the best time to look for badger tracks is when there is snow on the ground. Then you will not just find badger prints, you will be able to follow the trails made by badgers.

Picture © Steve Jackson.

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Additional picture credits

The Eurasian badger photo 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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