Life span: Up to 14 years.

Statistics: Head and body length: 65-80cm, Weight: 8-12kg.

Habitat: Badgers feed on pasture. Ideally make their setts on banks in sloping woodland.

Diet: Badgers search for food by scent. They have poor eye sight with a great sense of smell and acute hearing. Badgers feed on earthworms, frogs, rodents, birds, eggs, lizards, insects, bulbs, seeds and berries.

Behaviour: They are gregarious. Nocturnal emerging at dusk. Boundaries are marked by dung pits and scent from the musk gland under the tail. They defend their territories from other badgers.

Reproduction: The mating process involves "delayed implantation". Although females are able to mate any time after the cubs are born the fertilised egg does not implant in the uterus until December.
Badger cubs are normally born in February, the number of cubs usually being between one and three. Cubs emerge about May after spending the first 8-10 weeks underground.

Badgers live underground in setts. Nesting material is often left on the spoil heaps outside the sett entrances (not done during the day as they are nocturnal).

Advice for dealing with injured badgers - Do not touch a live badger even if concussed. Call for expert help, wildlife rehabber, rspcs or vet. They are very dangerous to handle. Cover the head carefully with a towel or coat. Put car hazard lights on and call for help. Tell who ever takes on the care of the ill badger the exact location of where it was found. This is very important as badgers MUST be released back to their own territory. They will fight badly if not.

Badgers and their setts are protected in law by the Badgers Protection Act 1992, further information is available from the Badger Trust website.

To see an example of the work we do with wild badgers click here.

To see an example of cruelty to badgers click here.