National Badger Day focuses on all things ‘badger’, so here are some interesting facts about badgers and their cousins….
- image from Pinterest
Badgers are part of the ‘mustelid’ group of mammals…
The Mustelidae from Latin mustela, meaning weasel) are a diverse family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, Martens, and wolverines. . Otherwise known as mustelids, they form the largest family in the suborder Caniformia, of the order Carnivora with about 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies.
Badgers have, sadly, sometimes received a negative reputation being in this ‘family’ with weasels – being labelled as ‘biting pests’ that go after livestock, including in the United Kingdom where they have been accused of spreading bovine TB in cattle. This has been proven to be incorrect by a wide range of studies The Guardian, Royal Society of Biology and The Wildlife Trusts – ‘Badgers are not the primary cause of the spread of bTB in cattle: the primary route of infection is via cow-to-cow contact and a vaccine for cattle should be a priority’ however this has left the UK Badger with a very bad rap sheet and a cull of badgers has targeted these creatures unfairly.
Key facts about badgers and the very real impact of the cull
Kids fact sheets about badgers…
Badges_KS1 SCIENCE – True or False BT version
Badger A to Z_mVH0dP-3.7 GENERAL Badger A-Z BT
