Comments

Primrose was a very special badger. I first came to know her as an individual during the very dry summer of 1989. That year, there were 9 badgers living in the sett that I was watching: 4 adult boars, 3 adult sows, and 2 cubs. As natural food was scarce, the badgers were keen to take any food that I offered, and they let me get very close. I got to know all of the badgers individually, recognising them by small variations in their markings. Primrose was easy to identify: the white fur on her left ear was almost completely missing, so I knew her as soon as I saw her head emerging from the sett! She was also very small for an adult badger.

Primrose was a mother that year, she and one of the other sows each had a single cub. Because of the drought both of the sows continued to suckle their cubs well into July (cubs are normally weaned in May). As sows do not normally give birth for the first time until they are 2 years old, she was that age at least in 1989.

I got to know Primrose extremely well over the next few years. So well in fact that in the half-light I could even recognise her from the way she walked! Compared with the other badgers, she also made the loudest "sniffing" noise when using her nose to seek out peanuts and raisins - and as the evening progressed and the remaining peanuts and raisins became more difficult to find, her sniffing got even louder! In her later years, she would sometimes, once all the peanuts and raisins had been eaten, sit down and then look up towards where I was standing - it was almost as if she was saying "Come on then - where's the rest of the food?"

Primrose did not have another cub until 1992. He was a boar, who I named Charlie. As a single cub, Charlie had no-one to play with. Although he tried to play with his mum, Primrose was not very maternal and never really got involved. In 1993 however, Charlie had a little sister to play with, as Primrose gave birth to Nightshade. Although Nightshade and Charlie were a year apart in age, they did play with each other, and I have video film of one of their play-fights.

In 1994, Primrose had another cub. This one however did not survive the summer; I hadn't even named it before it disappeared. Primrose too disappeared at the end of that year; I last saw her in December and presumably she died not long after. Assuming that she was 2 years old in 1989, she was very nearly 8 when she died, and may have been 9 or 10. That was quite a good age for a badger, especially a female who had given birth four times. Studies have shown that female badgers who breed more often do not live as long as those who reproduce less frequently.

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Picture credit

© 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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