Threats to the SpeciesThough American Badgers are not listed as threatened or endangered, humans decrease their population sizes. The main stressors on this species are habitat destruction, trapping, automobile deaths, and poisoning, especially by ingesting rodenticides.
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Range and HabitatRange: The American badger is distributed throughout the grasslands of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Habitat: Badgers live in a range of habitats; they can be found in grasslands, chaparral, open fields, pastures, and even wetlands. They can live at a variety of altitudes, from sea level to alpine meadows. |
Behavior and Species InteractionsDens: Badger adults are largely solitary creatures. They are primarily active during the nighttime and stay in their burrows for the majority of the winter season. They do not enter a state of true hibernation, but they have cycles of dormancy lasting for a little over a day. Badgers will leave their dens during the winter on warm days, however. Badgers primarily burrow to find food, but also to sleep in their burrows.
Mating: Badgers expand their ranges during the mating season to find mates. In general, males have larger territories than females, and a male’s territory tends to overlap with several female territories. To prepare for the young, female badgers create dens lined with vegetation. Females usually give birth to between one and five offspring. |
Life CycleLate Summer - Early Fall
Mating occurs once per year. Autumn - Early Winter Embryo development is arrested during late autumn and early winter. Late Winter Embryos implant, and babies are born a little over one month later. |
Resources
- Shefferly, Nancy. "Taxidea Taxus (American Badger)." Animal Diversity Web. Ed. Tanya Dewey and Allison Poor. University of Michigan: Museum of Zoology, n.d. Web.
- "Stanislaus River Report." Stanislaus River Report: American Badger. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mar. 1995. Web.