Mammals
European Badger
Meles meles · also called Eurasian badger
Emerging after dark from a sprawling underground sett that may have housed generations of its ancestors, a European badger lives a far more social life than most of its weasel-family relatives, its black-and-white striped face a familiar sight across the continent’s forests and grassland.
Overview
The European badger, Meles meles, is a social, burrowing mustelid native to forest and grassland habitat across Europe and parts of western Asia. Its enormous, long-lived underground setts, unusually social clan structure, and distinctive striped face make it one of the most behaviourally distinctive members of the weasel family found anywhere in its range.
A home built to outlast its builders
Few mammal burrows rival the scale and longevity of a badger sett, some of which have been continuously occupied and expanded by successive generations of badgers for far longer than any single animal could ever live to see.
Status
Least Concern, remaining widespread and generally stable across suitable forest and grassland habitat throughout Europe.
European Badger: common questions
How big can a badger sett get?
This species digs extensive underground burrow systems called setts, sometimes containing dozens of entrances and tunnels, which can be used and expanded by successive generations of badgers for centuries.
Do badgers live alone or in groups?
This species is unusually social for a member of the weasel family, typically living in clans of several related adults that share a single sett rather than the solitary lifestyle common among most mustelids.
Why does the badger have black-and-white facial stripes?
This species has a distinctive black-and-white striped face, a pattern that may serve as a warning signal to potential predators, though its exact purpose remains a subject of ongoing discussion among researchers.
How do badger clans mark their territory?
This species uses shared latrine sites at the edges of its territory, where clan members repeatedly deposit droppings to signal ownership and boundaries to neighbouring clans.