Eurasian Badger
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Carnivora |
| Family | Mustelidae |
| Subfamily | Melinae |
| Genus | Meles |
| Species | Meles meles |
| Species synonyms | Ursus meles |
| taxonomy: Smithsonian Institution |
The Eurasian Badger can be found throughout Europe and Asia. Despite its size and distinctive striping on the face chances are rare to see one because it is mainly active at night. Weight of adult animals varies between 10 and 16 kilogram. Combined head and body length is between 550 and 900 millimeters and the tail length is 115 to 200 millimeters. The back of the badger is usually grey while the underside and limbs are black. Easy to recognize is the head which is white with a black stripe on each side running from the nose to the ear, surrounding the eye.
Badgers have a mixed diet of insects, small mammals and reptiles but also fruit and other plant matter. They live in social groups with an average size of 6 adults, but group size may vary. The groups live together in large underground catacombs called "setts". These are impressive systems of chambers and tunnels and multiple entrances. It is expected that some of these systems are already centuries old. Researchers discovered that one sett in England contained 50 chambers, 178 entrances and a total of 879 meters of tunnels. In rocky environments like the Aksu-Djabagly nature reserve they make use of existing caves.
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The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant;
the population is growing.
MR. COLE'S AXIOM
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