COUNTRYSIDE
Badgers, love them
or hate them?
What ever happened to ‘the balance of nature’? It seems to
me that there are pressure groups either way for just about
everything that breaths, is built or just had the misfortune to
be born this millennium.
Badgers are probably one of the most loved and disliked mammals
of our countryside. What is for sure is that they are one of our
oldest, with fossilised remains being found dating back over
250,000 years.
Although not often seen by the majority there are estimated to
be around over quarter of a million of them living in setts around
the country.
Males otherwise known as boars can grow up to 1 metre in
length including their tail and weigh 12kg. Females known as
sows are little smaller.
Not all badgers are black and white, some may be albino (white),
melanistic (black) or erythristic (ginger). Colour variations being
due to the amount of melanin, a natural substance that gives
colour to hair and skin and is controlled genetically.
They are social animals living in groups and making their
homes under ground in setts, which usually comprise a network
of tunnels and chambers. Tending to prefer sandy, well drained
and easy to dig ground, on the edges of woodland or where there
is some cover.
Diet varies on time of year and what is available, they are
scavengers as opposed to hunters and their daily menu might
consist of insects, fruit and berries, amphibians and small
mammals.
Breeding is unusual as it involves ‘delayed implantation’. They
mate at any time of the year but the embryo does not implant
into the womb and start growing until winter which means the
cubs are all born between January and March. Litters of three are
commonest and the cubs (young) emerge from the setts at the
end of April beginning of May.
So why all the controversy…For years they have been
accused of spreading Bovine Tuberculoses to cattle. Many
tests have been carried out and the last major investigation
in 1996 for the Government concluded ‘the sum of evidence
strongly supports the view that, in Britain, badgers are a
significant source of infection in cattle’. As a result a badger
culling was instigated in trial areas and we are currently
awaiting the results of the survey that is still being carried
out
But that’s not all, I often have people moaning about
badgers digging up their lawns and vegetable gardens. This
is because badgers love earth worms. Well kept lawns and
tended vegetable plots are a haven for these. Badgers are
extremely strong and will even break into chicken houses
killing what ever they can.
For me, I love watching badgers, they fix me with the
curiosity of the countryside.
Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net
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