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Albino badgers are very uncommon. They tend to occur in a small number of specific localities (in Britain, such localities exist in Dorset, Berkshire, Essex and Kent) where the genes for this condition are established in the local population. This is because badgers do not usually move very far from the setts where they are born, and there is a certain amount of inbreeding.

As with the albino forms of other animals, albino badgers have pink eyes. The fur is rarely pure white however, usually it is a cream or biscuity colour. The fur may also be stained by the colour of the soil in which the badger has its sett.

If you have only just started to study badgers, this photograph serves as a reminder that you should never take anything for granted with these animals. Just when you thought you knew something about them (i.e., they're black and white), along comes an albino, just to prove that you didn't know as much as you thought you did. Badgers are like that.

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Picture credit

© Mike Collard, and used with his permission.

(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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