Territories

Each badger Clan has its own area - called a territory or a home range. The territory contains one or more badger setts, and places where the badgers can find regular food. The badgers have their own pathways, linking their setts and feeding areas.

If a badger from one clan wanders into the territory of another clan, there may be trouble. If the incoming badger is discovered, a fight may break out. As badgers have very powerful jaws and sharp teeth, nasty injuries can be inflicted when they fight. A badger which gets into a fight with another badger may well end up with a wound on its rump, just above the tail.

Fights can also take place between members of the same clan. This usually happens when there are too many badgers in the clan, and not enough food to go round; or when badgers are trying to fight their way up the pecking order to become a dominant boar or sow. If proper fights break out, the younger animals may then be forced out the clan and have to find somewhere else to live. This may be in a small sett on the edge of the territory, or in another territory altogether.

In fact, badgers are a little unusual in having such a strong family group or clan which reigns supreme over the territory. The clan will often take greats pains to try and cover most of the territory each night, walking on most of their regular well-worn pathways. They may well take the opportunity to scent mark and defecate on the boundaries which mark the edge of their territory. It is believed that the clan does this, because it collectively has the time to mark out and protect its territory. A lone badger would not have enough time to scent-mark its territory and gather and eat enough food to enable its long-term survival.

A territory can vary in size and shape, depending on many factors. These will include the availability of food, the ability to gather that food, the pressures on the territory from other badger clans, physical barriers or hardships (like wide rivers, railways, motorways and busy trunk roads). A particular territory will be sized so as to provide a large enough regular food supply for the clan. Accordingly, "good" territories, such as those with large amounts of regularly cut grassland may be relatively smaller. Territories which have a less good food supply (such as those in rough moorland or steep craggy mountainside areas, may be much larger in relative terms.

In an area which provides a very poor habitat, the territory may be as large as 0.5 square miles (320 acres).

Academic Note:

Mammal Review Volume 30 Issue 2, Pages 73 - 87 - Published Online: 24 Dec 2001

The use of marked bait in studies of the territorial organization of the European Badger (Meles meles)

R. J. Delahay*, J. A. Brown†, P. J. Mallinson*, P. D. Spyvee*, D. Handoll*, L. M. Rogers* and C. L. Cheeseman* *Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO4 1LZ, UK., †Julian Brown Consultancy, Willow Cottage, Hightree Drive, Henbury, Macclesfield SK11 9 PD, UK A range of plastic pellets for bait-marking is available from Amberley Thermoplastics, Unit N4 Inchbrook Trading Estate, Bath Rd, Woodchester, Stroud GL5 5EY, Gloucestershire, UK.

ABSTRACT

Bait-marking is a widely used technique for determining the territorial configuration of social groups of the European Badger (Meles meles). Applications include ecological research and applied wildlife management problems. Bait laced with indigestible plastic pellets is fed to Badger social groups, and the markers are identified in subsequent defecations. Feeding a unique colour and/or shape of pellet to each social group allows the origin of droppings to be assigned. This method is particularly suited to Badgers because they mark their territorial boundaries with communal latrines. In this paper the technique is described in detail for the first time in the scientific literature. Data from sequential visits to latrines during the survey period showed significant short-term variation in the number of marked droppings counted at individual latrines. This suggests that counting marked droppings may be of limited value in quantifying defecation rates and latrine use. However, counts of droppings at latrines could be useful if repeated over time and/or grouped into broad categories. Bait marking does provide reliable data for the estimation of territorial boundaries between Badger groups, although it is labour intensive and time-consuming, with the best results obtained by experienced fieldworkers.

Academic Note:

Journal of Zoology Volume 196 Issue 1, Pages 31 - 39 (Accepted 14 April 1981)

Factors affecting population density, group size and territory size of the European badger, Meles meles

Hans Kruuk 1 and Tim Parish - both from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Banchory, Scotland Copyright 1982 The Zoological Society of London

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the relationship between the distribution and biomass of the main prey of European badgers, Meles meles and the badgers group size, territory size and population density. The distribution of areas rich in earthworms, Lumbricus spp., is correlated with badger range size, whilst badger group size increases with the biomass of worms per badger territory and badger density increases with overall worm biomass. Regulation of badger density in an area is likely to take place through regulation of group size, in the absence of other factors such as persecution and lack of suitable sett-sites.