Boardania - Tales From The Shed part VIII

Badgers!

I haven't been able to write this journal for a while as they've been moving me around various places recently. It was all to do with their meet up in London. Him (the Scouser), the Scotsman, the Irish tramp and Carrot boy were all going, so they didn't want to leave me unattended. I'm not too sure exactly where I've been, as I've been bundled into and out of various cars into various houses, cellars and in one case what appeared to be a pie making factory.

I spent a very boring day or so watching formula-one motor racing with one member. He had an odd taste in furniture - most of it seemed to be pink and frilly!

I was eventually brought back to my shed. I was surprised at how much I'd missed it - and for some reason, the badgers. They all seemed extremely pleased to see me and we spent a lot of time sniffing each other and sharing badger food.

I'd been looking forward to meeting the Swedish writer that the gang had been planning to kidnap at the weekend, but it seems that they had failed miserably. Apparently she was some sort of martial arts expert and had other ideas regarding being kidnapped. The 'snatch squad' as they had been calling themselves had a fine collection of black eyes, busted lips and broken bones. They seem to have gone off the idea of kidnap - at least for the moment. Still, it means that I've now got more room in the shed, so things aren't all bad.

Now - As I said, I've missed the badgers terribly and I decided that I needed to learn more about them. I told the Scouser it was research for my next book. He was only too happy to let me read his... somewhat extensive collection of badger literature. Actually, it was difficult to shut him up once I'd mentioned badgers. I've got this compulsion to read and discover as much as possible about our stripey friends. I can't imagine why. I even had an odd dream about badgers the other night. I was standing in a field full of badgers doing exercises on their hind legs. Stretching out their forepaws and bending their knees. There was also a strange sort of song in the dream. It went: Badgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadger - mushroom, mushroom! Badgerbadgerbadgerbadger... Very odd indeed, but somehow hypnotic.

I'm way behind with my writing. The gang aren't at all happy with what I've been writing lately. Mrs. Redpen got so cross, she ripped up the manuscript in disgust. The thing that seemed to be upsetting them the most was the banquet scene. I'd made a list of the food. The usual sort of tasty things like: earthworm au gratin, slug canapes and vole-au-vents. One of the gang actually threw up when they read it. What is wrong with them? The Irish tramp agreed with me, that it was a fine feast.

Anyway, I was saying about my study of meles meles, or the European badger as it is better known. Badgers are part of the Mustellidae (Weasel Family), which is the largest and most diverse family within the Carnivore order. Globally there are 66 mustelid species alive today, divided into 25 genera and six subfamilies. Representatives of the Musteliidae include Otters, Skunks, Weasels, Stoats and Badgers. Worldwide, we recognize eight species of Badger, divided into five genera. On top of these eight species, there are 32 accepted subspecies of the various badger species. According to Ernest Neal and Chris Cheeseman's 1996 book Badgers, there are 11 accepted subspecies of the European (or Eurasian) Badger (Meles meles) with a further four proposed (but dubious) subspecies. Meles meles meles is the type species of European Badger found throughout most of Western Europe. Recent genetic studies on the Musteliidae suggest that the Badger subfamily (Mellinae) originated some 18 million years ago.

Adults are usually between 70 and 100 cm (2 – 31/2 ft) long and usually weigh between 7 and 13 kg (151/2 – 29 lbs) in summer and 16 to 24 kg (35 – 53 lbs) in winter.

Typically mature badgers have a silvery-grey body and tail, with black stomach and paws. Badgers are easily identified by their characteristic black-and-white striped face, and white margins to their ears. Variations to this colour scheme include albino, semi-albino, melanistic (very dark) and erythristic (reddish).

Badgers live in most of Europe, excluding northern Scandinavia, Iceland, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Cyprus. They can also be found in parts of Asia and as far east as China. In the UK, badgers are most common in the south and west, being noticeably scarce in the urban Midlands, parts of Scotland and parts of East Anglia. Some badgers inhabit rural areas, especially along the South coast of the UK, Essex, London, Bath and Bristol. Badgers are also found on the Isle of Wight. The Shropshire Badger Group estimates that there are currently 43,000 badger families in the UK.

Some consider the upper age limit of badgers to be in the region of 15 years, although six to eight years is probably closer to the norm. The oldest recorded European Badger was held in captivity and lived to almost 20 years old. The San Diego Zoo kept a Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis) for 26 years, making it the oldest badger on record.

Sexing badgers is not an easy task. In many (but not all) instances, the male will be bigger than the female and have a broader head, fuller cheeks and a less tufted tail. According to the Devon Badger Group, the only way to be sure is to roll it over!

Badgers are primarily nocturnal, although they can be seen around during the daytime (usually early in the evening during summertime). Generally, in the UK, badgers emerge from their dens before dusk between May and August, but don't come out until after dark for the rest of the year and are less active from November to February. Badgers do not hibernate, although they may enter states of torpor during very cold and snowy periods – during periods of torpor, the badger will remain in its sett (often for several weeks) and metabolise its fat reserves. A study by the University of Sussex found radio-collared badgers had the largest ranges during the summer and autumn, with group range declining during the winter months. A similar study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology in 2002 found that dominant female and subordinate badgers used only a small fraction of their territories, moved short distances at low speed and covered small areas each night during the winter and spring. Males were observed to use the same proportion of their territories throughout the year, although they moved faster over longer distances and covered greater areas per period of activity during the winter than females. As food availability (i.e. young rabbits) increased in the autumn, so did body condition, although range was reduced (presumably a reflection of the fact that the badgers didn’t need to move so far to find food).

A study published in the Journal of Biogeography earlier this year found that the activity patterns of European badgers in the Bialowieza Primeval Forest in Poland and other Palaearctic (from western Europe to Central Siberia) populations differed between spring and autumn and between adult and subadult individuals. On average, badgers were seen to emerge from setts at 19:00 and returned to them at 03:42, with the highest activity seen between 20:00 and 03:00. The duration of activity was dependent on daily temperature and the badgers were inactive for an average of 96 days (about 3 months) each year. The study also found that in regions with warm climates, badgers were active year round and there was little change in overall body mass; in areas with bitter winters badgers increased their body mass two-fold from spring to autumn, and underwent torpor for as long as six months. The primary conclusion of the paper was that the ultimate factor that regulated these differences was a winter shortage of earthworms.

Whilst badgers obviously have their own built in activity rhythms, these patterns can apparently be altered by human interference. A paper by a group of scientists fronted by Frank Tuyttens, now at the Agricultural Research Centre in Belgium, reported that anthropogenic (human-induced) control of badgers changed their natural circadian (daily) rhythm. Using infra-red video cameras, the researchers were able to demonstrate that badgers in a population subjected to lethal control by humans, emerged from their dens later in the evening than those from a nearby, undisturbed population. Indeed, it appears that human disturbance may have more wide-ranging consequences for badger populations than we previously realised. Several studies on the effectiveness of lethal control on badgers and whether it was effective at stamping out Bovine TB suggests that the more disturbed a sett becomes, the more unstable the population gets - this highly disturbed setts are likely to encourage badgers to leave the main sett looking for undisturbed pastures. This may actually serve to *increase* the spread of TB! See Badgers & TB for more info on this subject.

A badger’s homestead is referred to as a sett. Reflecting the dwelling of a highly social mammal, badger setts are large and spacious enough to accommodate as many as 15 animals. Setts are generally constructed on sloping ground in woodland or on the periphery of farmland, although they have been found in scrub, natural caves, tips, under buildings, in embankments, quarries, hedgerows and sea cliffs. In the UK, badgers seem to show a preference for deciduous woodland and copses (56% of setts), with fewer setts (13%) found in hedgerows and scrub and even fewer (9%) in open fields. A large sett may consist of up to 100 m (330 ft) of tunnels, with as many as 40 entrances/exits, each about 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter. Here in the UK, a study found an established sett in the Cotswolds with twelve entrances had tunnels totalling more than 300 metres (1000 ft); the study estimated that the badgers had moved 25 tonnes (55,000 lbs) of soil to create the network. Around the edge of the entrance is a mound of highly compacted earth and, in some instances, discarded bedding material. The sett system often consists of a primary and several subsidiary setts spread around the territory. In the main sett, there are usually chambers on a number of levels. The main nesting chamber is often between five and ten metres (161/2 – 33 ft) from the tunnel entrance and about three metres (10 ft) below the surface. The chambers are lined with dry vegetation that is regularly changed. A new chamber is often dug for each successive brood of cubs, and setts may be inhabited by several generations of badger. In very cold regions, the sett is dug below the level at which the ground freezes, and all members of the clan will sleep in the same chamber – it is possible that sleeping together helps ‘share’ body heat.

A study by a group at the University of Sussex published in the journal Behaviour looked at sett use in European badgers. They found that subsidiary (outlier) setts were used mainly during the summer, and although usage was not related to sex or body condition, outliers tended to be used by younger animals and had a larger number of fleas than the main sett. The main sett was not divided into separate territories. Another study by Jacek Goszczynski and a colleague at the Polish Department of Forest Protection and Ecology found that badgers had two peaks of den use, one in April and another in August – September. They also found that the same dens were visited by foxes and badgers.

Territories of 30 to 50 hectares (one-tenth of a square-mile) are common in rich habitats, covering areas as large as 150 ha (half sq-mile) in poorer regions. There are typically about 10 badgers per 100 ha in 'good' British badger territory (range: 2 to 20). Territory boundaries are marked with scent (either urine or a hormonal secretion from anal glands located either side of the anus) and dung pits (or Latrines). Badgers from a single sett will mark each other (a process known as “musking”); a musking badger will back onto another badger with its tail raised, secreting an odorous substance onto the conspecific’s (member of the same species) fur. One gland used specifically for scent marking is the violet gland located on the tail (Foxes also have this gland).

A set of recent experiments carried out by a team of scientists, fronted by Christina Buesching at the University of Oxford, used gas chromatography to determine the composition of the violet gland secretion. Gas Chromatography is a process during which a sample of a given substance is vaporized and injected into chromatographic columns where it is then separated into its individual components – this technique allows a mixture of components to be separated and the individual ingredients to be identified and measured by a piece of equipment called as mass spectrometer. Doctor Buesching and her colleagues were able to identify 110 different components, 21 of which were present in every sample.

The violet (or subcaudal) glands produce a lipid-rich (high fat content) secretion that shows a distinct seasonal pattern. Buesching's experiments found that although group members had more similar secretion chemistry than those from outside the group, the composition varied according to season, sex, age, body condition and reproductive status. This is very interesting because these results suggest that, not only does the violet gland’s secretion convey information about group membership, but it may also provide information about the health and even genetic fitness of the individual.

Latrines are also used by badgers, and are probably used to signify territory. Latrines are often located close to the main sett and may cover several square metres. A study by Michael Hutchings et al. back in 2001 found that badgers in south-west England selected woodland, and avoided arable (i.e. farmed) land, for latrine sites (which are generally shallow, uncovered pits). They also found that faecal scent marks were strongly associated with the edge of pastoral fields, rather than being in the middle. (Back to Menu)

As with foxes, badgers have only one natural predator in the UK, Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), which – in the same manner as foxes – are capable of taking only young badgers. Adult badgers average 10 to 12 kg (22 – 26 ½ lbs), which is twice the weight an adult Golden Eagle can lift. In Europe Wolves (Canis lupus), Lynx (Lynx lynx), Wolverines (Gulo gulo), Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) and Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) may take badgers of various life-stages if the opportunity arises. Badger cubs are also known to occasionally fall victim to dogs and foxes. (Back to Menu)

Badgers are opportunistic omnivores, feeding primarily on oligochaetes (earthworms) with supplementary insects (including caterpillars and moths), beetles, small mammals (including voles, rats, mice, moles, young rabbits and hedgehogs), bird eggs and young birds, frogs, berries, roots, bulbs, nuts, fruit (in the autumn) and other plant matter (including cereals like oats and wheat). There is even a report of a badger catching and eating a fish. Badgers will also eat carrion and those in urban areas will scavenge food from bins and gardens. In some areas, badgers may dig out and eat the contents of wasp and bee nests. Earthworms seem to comprise the primary component of badger diets in southwest Britain; one study found that 75% of the individuals studied had worms in their stomach, with 65% having *only* worms. Badgers are one of two British hedgehog-eaters (the other being the Red Fox); foxes leave the skin of the Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), whilst badgers eat it. In the UK, badgers seem particularly partial to elder berries, the seeds of which they distribute in their dung. The latrine areas around badger setts provide favourable habitat for Elder bushes (Sambucus nigra) and nettles (Urtica dioica) because as the badger dung decomposes it releases nitrogenous components into the soil; elder and nettles have a preference for nitrogen-rich soil.

Earthworms form a substantial part of a badger's diet during most seasons

A study by Eloy Revilla and Francisco Palomares published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology in 2002 found that the main food resource for badgers was young rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) during the winter and spring, fruits in the autumn and reptiles in the summer months. The scientists also report that consumption of young rabbits (both juvenile and adults) was related to rabbit abundance, with a type-3 response to eating young rabbits (i.e. as young rabbits increased in number, badgers slowly adjusted their diet to include more of them). Thus, it seems that, in Canada at least, badgers are generalists, and are not locally specialized. Another study by biologists at the Euskal Herriko Unibersitatea in Spain found that the diet of a badger clan from Biscay varied with season, with fruit a staple constituent in summer and earthworms being the main component in other seasons. A study of badgers in Denmark found that cereals were an important part of the diet during the spring and autumn, with small mammals being more important during the summer months. The study also noted that, during the autumn, males ate twice as many earthworms than females, and that diet composition did not differ significantly with age.

Badgers feed copiously in the spring and summer months, laying down considerable subcutaneous (under the skin) fat reserves by the autumn. This layer of fat can be considerable, and may increase the badger’s weight by as much as 60%.

The breeding season for badgers is July to August with the majority of matings occurring between February and May, although mating may occur in any month. Oestrous (the female’s receptive period) in Meles is between four and six days, and during this time, a female may mate with several males. During courtship, the male will pursue the female, and bite her nape (back of the neck) during intercourse. Copulation may last anywhere from ten minutes to one-and-a-half hours; intercourse of two to five minutes is known in females that are not fully receptive.

After fertilization, female badgers undergo a phenomenon know as embryonic diapause (also referred to as ‘Delayed Implantation’). Diapause is a process by which the development of the zygote (fertilized egg) is halted at the blastocyst stage – i.e. the egg multiplies to form a hollow ball of cells (blastula) that is then suspended in the uterus for three to ten months. Almost regardless of the time that mating actually takes place, a female badger will delay implantation until late December or early January. It is currently unknown what causes the blastula to eventually embed in the endometrium (lining of the womb) and continue its development; it has been suggested that estradiol (a female sex hormone) may play a role in triggering implantation in mice. It has also been suggested that various hormones in the badger’s blood (e.g. progesterone and oestrogen) and possibly some proteinacious development factor (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor – Egfr – in mice) may play a combined role. According to Walker’s Mammals of the World (1997), implantation of the blastocysts in badgers seems to be related to ambient temperature and light levels, although body condition is probably important as well. An interesting experiment by a team at the University of Oxford last year (2003) found that when females had a relatively high index of body condition (i.e. were healthy and well fed), they implanted early and the cub sex ratio was male biased (i.e. more males were born than females). The interesting point of this is that it goes against the reasonably well-established Local Resource Competition Hypothesis (LRCH). The LRCH states that in years when female body condition is poor animals should lower competition for local resources by producing males (i.e. males are more likely to disperse, rather than hang around and use some of the scarce local resources). There’s always one!

Damn! Someone's coming. Smells like the Scotsman. Yes Iru Bru and deep-fried pizza. Quick let's hide this and swallow...

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Phew! I thought he'd never go... Where was I? Erm... Oh yes, I was talking about sex...

Once implantation of the blastocyst has occurred, gestation is usually between six and eight weeks, with cubs born anywhere from mid-January to mid-March with the bulk occurring in early February. However, births have been known anytime from mid-December to April. A female may produce as many as six cubs, although two is most common. Only one litter is produced by any given female in a single year, although under plentiful conditions more than one female in the clan may reproduce. As with all mammals, the young are born blind and helpless. Neonatal (newborn) badgers are thin with pale grey fur and measure about 12 cm (5 ½ in.). The cub’s eyes open after about five weeks and their deciduous (milk) teeth appear within four to six weeks.

 

Young badgers emerge from the nursery chamber at about eight weeks old (late April or early May) and the cubs have their first permanent teeth by ten weeks old. Weaning begins when the cubs are about 12 weeks old; the cubs are weaned and feeding themselves by five to six months old (around end of June, early July). By the time the cubs are fully weaned, if conditions are good the juvenile badger may weigh 6 kg (13 lbs). If the cub survives to the end of its first year, it will usually weight between eight and ten kilograms (19 – 22 lbs) and measure 70 to 80cm (2 ½ ft).

The onset of maturity can vary tremendously between individual badgers. On average both males and females mature at 12 to 15 months old. Males may mature as late as two years, and females may begin ovulating earlier or later than the average. Dispersal is apparently most common in badgers of two years old, and seems intrinsically related to group stability (i.e. the more stable the habitat and social dynamics of the group, the less likely dispersal becomes). Males generally have a greater tendency to disperse than females.

Under plentiful conditions, subordinate badgers may become pregnant. However, if these cubs make it to term, their mother will usually eat her offspring. Generally, about half the cubs will die within their first year through mortality other than infanticide (i.e. the weather, disease, on the roads etc.) and there is often a 30% per annum mortality of adults.

European badgers live in highly social family groups, or clans; badgers within a given clan are usually closely related, although more than one family may make up a single sett. A community will typically consist of up to 15 animals, with several adult males and females and one or two litters of cubs. The clan establish a well-defined territory marked by scent and latrines (see Territory above), which they will vehemently defend against intruders from peripheral setts. Although the territory associated with the sett and latrines is defended, feeding grounds may overlap with neighbours. As the size of the badger group increases, it seems that certain behavioural facets change at the same time. For example, a study by a team at the University of Bristol found that badgers put a greater proportion of faeces and urine in latrines as population density increased.

From the little information about the social structure of the European Badger, it seems that each group is composed of a single breeding pair and a number of subordinates (usually offspring from the alpha pair). These subordinates do not appear to be “helpers” in the same way that can be seen in Red Fox communities. The subordinate badgers don’t seem to have any input into raising the year’s brood, they don’t suckle the cubs, nor do they provide food for the mother or cubs. However, the subordinates have been observed to help with the maintenance of the sett, helping to change the bedding.

A three year study on the Honey Badger in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park in South Africa revealed a strict hierarchical system in males with respect to female access. The dominant male had unrestricted access to the breeding female, and other subordinate males were only seen to reach the female if the dominant badger had left the sett to chase away another omega male. Despite this status, the scientists found a considerable degree of polygamy within the badger sett. There don’t appear to be any similar experiments looking at the Eurasian badger.

Despite the common observation that many badgers remain within their natal sett, some do disperse. A study on a well-established sett at Woodchester Park in Gloucestershire in the UK found that badgers of all ages permanently dispersed, with a tendency to move to smaller groups. Ages for dispersal may be from as young as seven to eight months, although dispersal at this young age is rare; badger dispersal usually occurs late June through to August. The study on the Honey Badger in South Africa observed one female dispersing more than 50 km (31 mi) within three weeks of independence!

 

The study by Eloy Revilla and Francisco Palomares published in the Journal of Animal Ecology found that prey type may influence dispersal, as well as influencing clan behaviour and structure. The researchers found that in the study area where badgers ate mainly rabbits, territories were occupied by small groups of animals consisting of a single reproducing female and a reproducing adult male as well as some cubs (this and last years). Dispersal in these groups was observed to occur during the mating season of their third or fourth year of life.

In many areas, people share a similar well-disposed attitude to badgers (more so than they do other urban wildlife, such as foxes); some however, dislike the presence of badgers on their property. Badgers are well known to raid dustbins, compost heaps, dig up and eat bulbs and other crops, which brings them into inevitable conflict with humans. However, badgers are protected under UK law, making it illegal to harm a badger or disturb their setts. The primary legislation protecting badgers is the Protection of Badgers Act (1992), which effectively consolidates all the previous legislation, making it an offence to: wilfully kill, injure or take, or attempt to kill, injure or take a badger; possess a dead badger; cruelly ill-treat a badger; dig for a badger; mark tag or ring a badger; or interfere with a badger sett, amongst others. The act brings a penalty of up to six months imprisonment and a fine at level 5 (up to £5000). Schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) prohibits the use of certain methods of taking or killing a wild animal and the Powers of Criminal Courts Act (1973) allows any property used to kill, injure or take a badger (including dogs) to be seized. There are of course exceptions to these rules, and the Protection of Badgers Act (1992) allows licences to be granted for research purposes and to permit the intervention of local councils in the event of serious damage to property. The same act also permits fox hunts to obstruct the entrances of badger setts to prevent a fox going to ground, provided a strict set of regulations are adhered to.

So, how effective is the legislation? The answer, it seems, depends on the country in question and where the badgers choose to build their setts. In a forthcoming paper to Biological Conservation, two biologists from the University of Belfast report on just this subject. Linda Sadlier and Ian Montgomery looked at the effect that protective legislation has had on the badger population of Northern Ireland. Via a series of direct observation and survey questionnaires, Sadier and Montgomery found that not only was sett disturbance linked to both social groups size and the number of social groups, but that Northern Ireland's badger population is being constrained by high levels of sett disturbance. The authors consider that, because most badger setts are constructed on agricultural land, off the beaten track, it is only landowners that come across the badgers. Conversely, here in Britain, public rights of access across most arable and forested lands mean that destruction and/or disturbance to a badger sett is more likely to be spotted and consequently reported to the police.

It is generally assumed that one of the main reasons some landowners dislike badgers on their property is related to the loss of earnings the mustelids cause through consumption of crops. However, there is little data available to suggest how much of a problem this truly is. A paper in the journal Mammal Review earlier this year (2004) looked at badger populations in Luxembourg. In the paper, the biologists report that during the period of 1995 to 1999, Luxembourg farmers made an average of only 31 claims per year for crop damage by badgers. Apparently, this is equivalent to an annual economic cost of some 344 Euros (£230 or US$410), which is negligible compared to the damage caused by other large mammals (such as Wild Boar, Sus scrofa).

Undoubtedly, one rather obvious human-badger interaction is road deaths. It is estimated that some 50,000 badgers meet their maker on Britain's roads every year! Indeed, turning to page 13 of my local paper of 26th March 2004, the headline read: "Badger 'graveyard' on district's roads" According to this brief news piece in the West Sussex County Times, stretches of the Fittleworth Road and the A29 as it cuts through Billingshurst have seen unusually high numbers of badgers involved in road traffic accidents. A recent paper in Biological Conservation reports on the effects of roads on badger mortality in southwest England. A team of biologists lead by Dr. Philip Clarke of York University analysed the information on when and where road-killed badgers were collected by MAFF during the mid-1980s. They found that there was a strong seasonal skew in road deaths of badgers (more in spring) and that the number of badgers killed was apparently inversely related to how busy the roads were. For example, together motorways and dual carriageways accounted for only 5.5% of all recorded badger road deaths, while Class A and B roads accounted for almost 55%. The authors do point out that the data might have been affected by laws preventing stopping on motorways, leading to fewer carcasses being recorded. In a bid to try and stem the deaths, local badger groups are installing "Badger Reflectors" on established badger crossings. The reflectors are small reflective posts that reflect car headlights at the badger about to cross, hopefully dissuading it!

Currently, a big problem for the UK’s badger population is badger baiting. Bastards!

Another problem facing badgers is persecution through the transmission of tuberculosis (TB) to cows. In 1971, a dead badger in Gloucestershire (UK) was found to be infected with Mycobacterium bovis, the bacteria known to cause TB in cattle. M. bovis is closely related to M. tuberculosis, which causes TB in humans, and there are cases of humans contracting M. bovis after prolonged contact with infected cattle. It seems that M. bovis prefer the lungs and kidney’s of badgers, meaning that TB can be spread in the badgers breath and droppings. Furthermore, territorial disputes between males during the spring may lead to the transfer of TB through infected bite wounds. Symptoms of TB typically include loss of appetite, weakness, weight loss and fever, and TB is known to result in caseous (appearing cheese-like) lesions in the lungs and bronchomediastinal lymph nodes (little filters in the neck near the thymus). Globally, TB is the world’s biggest bacterial killer, estimated to kill three million people annually. Unfortunately, TB is not always fatal to badgers and an infected individual can live for a considerable time before succumbing to the disease, meaning that TB can be spread widely during this time. Infected cows suffer from lung infection by M. bovis, rather than kidney infection.

Badgers were culled using cyanide gas between 1975 and 1981 -- when gassing was outlawed -- in a bid to combat TB infections; research indicated that not only was gassing inhumane, but it was also ineffective at combating TB transmission. Sadly, for the badgers, the only way to test for TB is post-mortem, so the badger needs to be killed first. Since 1975, some 30,000 badgers have been killed in a bid to eradicate and research bovine TB, even though only 20% of them had any sign of the disease. Indeed, there is still no concrete evidence that badgers do actually spread TB, although many farmers seem convinced. Still, this doesn’t get around the fact that about 9000 infected cattle are dispatched in the UK each year, and although this represents only 0.4% of the population, it is still deemed too much.

In July 2002, the animal health minister Elliot Morley announced that there would be an additional £3 million spent to combat bovine TB in England and Wales. This massive amount of money is necessary when you consider that each badger culled costs (ultimately the Tax Payer) £7000. Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA: originally the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food - MAFF) carry out controlled killing in designated parts of the country to try to stop the spread of TB. However, this culling has provoked much controversy amongst animal welfare groups and farmers. Part of the problem arises because it may not only be badgers that are capable of spreading bovine TB; some consider TB may also be transmitted by foxes, mink, moles, rats, ferrets and even wild deer. Some go further and place the blame for the spread of TB on the recent intensification of farming practices here in the UK. However, bovine TB is not just a UK problem, it is also prevalent in the United States and other parts of the world. Czechoslovakia has recently eliminated the disease, cutting the number of infections from 22% down to 0.03% in only seven years.

Disturbing the badger setts (during the culling procedure) is now thought to do more harm than good. As mentioned above, as the level of disturbance increases, the size of the sett declines (as members move further a field) - this obviously holds the potential to spread any disease further and wider than would be the case for an undisturbed population. A paper currently in press (soon to appear in the journal, Biological Conservation) by Linda Sadlier and Ian Montgomery of The Queen's University of Belfast found a significant negative relationship between the severity of disturbance and sett size in Northern Ireland's badger clans. In other words, as the disturbance got worse, the number of adult badgers in the group declined. The authors consider that this migration from the main sett is a result of a disturbance-induced disruption in territorial behaviour.

Some people consider that a better preventative measure is a change to the way we keep cattle, rather than an all-out cull of badgers. It has been suggested that bovine TB could be reduced (if not eliminated) by excluding badgers from cowsheds (with better fencing), feeding troughs (with better designs) and by not putting cows in fields near badger setts. However, whilst this may intuitively seem like the best solution, it is certainly not the easiest. A group of scientists, fronted by Ben Garnett at the University of Sussex, carried out an investigation into how badgers might be excluded from cattle feeding troughs. Their results, published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science earlier this year (2003), showed that the maximum height to which a badger would climb to gain access to a trough was 115 cm (almost 4 ft). Unfortunately, raising a trough to this height would place it out of the reach of calves, young heifers and bullocks. Thus, it seems that if exclusion of badgers is going to be a workable alternative to culling, new designs for feeding troughs and cattle sheds are going to be required. Perhaps some of the £3 million in additional funding could be used to investigate this.

Often the best way to tempt wildlife to linger in your garden long enough for you to get a decent look is with the lure of food. Badgers will be attracted to foods such as bread, nuts, peanut butter and dog food, and in common with many species of British wildlife, they are very fond of custard cream biscuits! Well, so am I.

If you have spotted badgers feeding in, or passing through your garden in the past, then it is best to place the food close to the path they normally take, so that they are most likely to find it. If you are unsure about whether badgers visit your garden, look for large holes in your perimeter fences, paths worn through the lawn and small circular holes in the grass appearing overnight, then place the food close to one of these signs. To watch the badgers feeding from indoors, put the light on in the room you wish to watch from when you put the food out at around dusk, this way the badgers won’t be disturbed by movement, and the light will illuminate the area where they are feeding. Alternatively, if your garden is well lit by streetlights, keep the lights in rooms overlooking your garden off.

To watch them from outdoors, you will need to stay upwind of the feeding site and remain very still and quiet throughout their visit because badgers will be alert for the slightest movement while they are eating. If you observe from outside, you will discover that badgers are very noisy eaters! If you manage to attract badgers to feed in your garden, you will find that they will come most nights and often stay for up to 30 minutes. When more than one badger comes to feed in your garden, you may witness squabbles between the animals, these seem to be more about the social hierarchy of the group than the need for food, as such events occur even when food is plentiful.

As with foxes, it is best to avoid feeding badgers too much processed food, and try to include foodstuffs from their natural diet if possible. Chocolate should be avoided. Quite right too! Horrible stuff!

It's funny, in all my research on these fascinating creatures, I never once found any information on Atomic Badgers. I wonder why?