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English names
It's not too difficult to guess why the stink badgers are so called. Both species are capable of squirting evil-smelling secretions from their anal glands and do so for defence when threatened. In fact the earliest English name given to a stink badger, as recorded by William Marsden in his 1784 book "The History of Sumatra," was stinkard [p1598, p1597, p1174].
The Indonesian stink badger
This species is also known as the Sunda stink badger [w5-4, w32-9], the Borneo stink badger [p111-3], the Javan stink badger [p111-3], the Malay stink badger [p111-3, p155] and the Malay badger [p1426, p1589].
The Palawan stink badger
Named for its occurrence on the island of Palawan in the Philippines, this species also occurs on some of the nearby Calamian Islands (or Calamianes). Thus this badger is also known as the Philippine or Philippenes stink badger [p4, w15] and the Calamian stink badger [p1]. Another name which has been used is the Palawan skunk [w1523].
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Latin names
The Latin name for this genus of badgers, Mydaus, is said to be a reference to the unpleasant smell of the stink badgers. One author states that the name is derived from the Greek words myda (meaning wet, damp or mouldy) and us (meaning substance) [p111-3]. Another states that it is based on the Greek word mudao ("I am damp"), which in turn is derived from the Greek word for damp or decay, mudos [p5]. Cuvier, who created the genus Mydaus, summed it up more succinctly [p1597]: "Nom tiré du grec, et qui signifie puant." Roughly translated, the name is taken from the Greek, and means stinking.
The Indonesian stink badger
The Latin name javanensis means that the animal comes from Java (the suffix ensis being Latin for "belonging to") [p5].
The Palawan stink badger
When Huet first described this species in 1887, he named it Mydaus marchei in honour of the man who discovered it, French naturalist Alfred Marche ("je propose de donner le nom de Marchei, en souvenir du voyageur qui l'a découverte dans l'ile de Palaouan") [p1468]. This stink badger is separated by some into its own genus, Suillotaxus (giving a full scientific name of Suillotaxus marchei) [p1, p3, p4]. Suillo is derived from the Latin suillus (of pigs / swine) [w1522], and taxus is the New Latin for badger [p5, w16].
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Names in other languages
In this section, names in non-Latin scripts are where possible transliterated, and in some cases an English translation is then given. For example яванский барсук = yavanski barsuk (Javan badger).
The following names, as far as I can tell, mean "stink badger" rather than referring to either of the two species specifically:
- Chinese: 恶臭獾 [w1325] = ě chòu huān [w1328] (stink badger [w1325, w1328]).
- Croatian: smrdljivi jazavac [p558, w1330].
- Danish: stink grævling [w700-5].
- Dutch: stinkdas [w1331].
- Finnish: haisumäyrä [w23].
- German: Stinkdachs [w15, w27, w390-1, p154].
- Icelandic: óþefsgreifingi [w870].
- Italian: tasso odoroso [w293-5].
- Norwegian: Stinkgraevling [w277].
- Russian: вонючий барсук [w1321, w895-4, w895-5] = vonyuchi barsuk (stinking badger).
- Spanish: tejón apestoso [w82, w1333, w1334]
- Swedish: stinkgrävling [w96].
The Indonesian stink badger
- Bahasa Indonesian: sigung [w15].
- Bukit Malay: sa’at [p381, p889].
- Bulgarian: Миризлив язовец [w1038-1].
- Chinese: 印度尼西亚人恶臭獾 [w1325] = yìndù ní xī yà rén ě chòu huān [w1328] (Indonesian stink badger [w1325]); 南洋獾 [w1327] = nán yáng huān [w1328] (Southeast Asia badger [w1327]).
- Croatian: Indonezijski smrdljivi jazavac [w1330].
- Czech: jezevec smrdutý [w22, w86, w123, w241].
- Danish: Indonesisk stink grævling [w700-5].
- Dutch: Maleise stinkdas [w1331].
- Esperanto: Malaja porko-melo; teleduo [w26].
- Estonian: teledu [w1336].
- French: le teledu de Java [w98]; télagon [p452-1, p1597].
- German: Malaiischer Stinkdachs; Java-Stinkdachs [w15, w27, w390-1]; Sunda-Stinkdachs [p154].
- Icelandic: Malasíski óþefsgreifingi [w870].
- Italian: tasso odoroso indonesiano [w293-5]
- Japanese: スカンクアナグマ [w606].
- Malay: teledu [p5, p155, p111-3].
- Norwegian: Sunda stinkgrevling [w1313-1].
- Russian: яванский барсук [w1321] = yavanski barsuk (Javan badger); вонючий сундский барсук [w895-5] = vonyuchi sundski barsuk (stinking Sunda badger).
- Spanish: tejón apestoso de Java [w82, w1333, w1334], tejón Malayo [w107].
Other names (languages unknown): Other names used by local peoples living within this stink badger's range include seng-goeng, teledoe and teleggo [p111-3, p1598]. The first two names are presumably variants of the Bahasa Indonesian sigung and the Malayan teledu. Curiously, some Indonesian web pages also use the name teledu or toledu; maybe this has been borrowed from the Malay name used on Borneo? Although teleggo is noted by one source as a local name used on Borneo, it was noted by Marsden in the late 1700s as the name used for the stink badger (or stinkard) on Sumatra [p1598]. This is not dissimilar to télagon, a name adopted for the stink badger by Cuvier in the 1820s from a local name used on Java [p1597].
The Palawan stink badger
- Bulgarian: Късоопашат язовец [w1038-1].
- Chinese: 巴拉望獾 [w1327] = bā lā wàng huān [w1328] (Palawan badger [w1327]).
- Croatian: Filipinski Smrdljivi jazavac [w1330].
- Czech: jezevec krátkoocasý [w22, w86, w123, w241].
- Dutch: Filipijnse stinkdas [w1331].
- French: blaireau des Philippines [p402].
- German: Phillipinen-Stinkdachs [w27].
- Icelandic: Palawanski óþefsgreifingi [w870].
- Italian: tasso odoroso di Palawan [w293-5].
- Japanese: パラワンアナグマ [w606, w607].
- Norwegian: Palawan stinkgrevling [w1313-1].
- Russian: Палаванский барсук [w1321] = Palawanski barsuk (Palawan badger); Филиппинский барсук [w316] = Philippinski barsuk (Philippines badger); вонючий палаванский барсук [w895-4] = vonyuchi palawanski barsuk (stinking Palawan badger).
- Spanish: tejón apestoso de Palawan [w82, w1333, w1334], tejón filipino [w107].
Other names: The local name for this species on Palawan is pantot [p111-5, w1070].
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Picture credits
The Palawan stink badger photo used at the head of this Article is © Peter Widmann, 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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