Badger
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
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 American Badger
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American Badgers (Taxidea taxus ) are animals found primarily in the Great Plains area of North America.
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[change] Physical Description
American Badgers measure 520 to 875 mm from head to tail, with the tail making up only 100 to 155 mm of this length. The badgers weigh 4 to 12 kg. The body is flattened, and the legs are short and stocky. The fur on the back and flanks of the animal ranges from greyish to reddish. The ventrum is a buffy colour. The face of the badger is distinct. The throat and chin are whitish, and the face has black patches. A white dorsal stripe extends back over the head from the nose. In northern populations, this stripe ends near the shoulders. In southern populations, however, it continues over the back to the rump. Males are significantly larger than females and animals from northern populations are larger than those from southern populations.
[change] Habitat
American Badgers prefer to live in dry, open grasslands, fields, and pastures. They are found in many different places from high alpine meadows to sea level.
[change] Behaviour
American Badgers are excellent digging machines. Their powerfully built forelimbs allow them to tunnel rapidly through the soil, and apparently through other harder substances as well. There are anecdotal accounts of badgers emerging from holes they have excavated through blacktopped pavement and two inch thick concrete. They can be very violent creatures.
[change] Food Habits
Badgers are carnivorous. Their dominant prey are pocket gophers, ground squirrels, moles, marmots, prairie dogs, woodrats, kangaroo rats, deer mice, and voles. They also prey on ground nesting birds, such as bank swallows and burrowing owls, lizards, amphibians, carrion, fish, hibernating skunks, insects, including bees and honeycomb, and some plant foods, such as corn and sunflower seeds. Unlike many carnivores that stalk their prey in open country, badgers catch most of their food by digging. They can tunnel after ground dwelling rodents with amazing speed.
