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European Badger
'Honey' the badger
European Badger in captivity.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Meles
Species: M. meles
Binomial name
Meles meles
Linnaeus, 1758
File:European Badger area.png
European Badger range


Other names[]

Description[]

Similar species[]

Subspecies[]

As of 2005,[2] eight subspecies are recognised.

Subspecies Trinomial authority Description Range Synonyms
Common badger
Meles meles meles

File:Badger Cornwall 3.jpg

Linnaeus, 1758 A large subspecies with a strongly developed sagittal crest, it has a soft pelage and relatively dense underfur. The back has a relatively pure silvery-grey tone, while the main tone of the head is pure white. The dark stripes are wide and black, while the white fields fully extend along the upper and lateral parts of the neck. It can weigh up to 20–24 kg in autumn, with some specimens attaining even larger sizes.[3] All Europe, save for Rhodes, Crete and Spain. Its eastern range encompasses the European area of the former Soviet Union eastward to the Volga, Crimea, Ciscaucasia, and the northern Caucasus alba (Gmelin, 1788)

britannicus (Satunin, 1905)
caninus (Billberg, 1827)
caucasicus (Ognev, 1926)
communis (Billberg, 1827)
danicus (Degerbøl, 1933)
europaeus (Desmarest, 1816)
maculata (Gmelin, 1788)
tauricus (Ognev, 1926)
taxus (Boddaert, 1785)
typicus (Barrett-Hamilton, 1899)
vulgaris (Tiedemann, 1808)

Cretan badger
Meles meles arcalus

File:Badger Crete.jpg

Miller, 1907 Crete
Trans-Caucasian badger
Meles meles canascens

File:MelesCanescens.jpg

Blanford, 1875 A small subspecies with a dirty-greyish back with brown highlights, its head is identical to Meles m. meles, though with weaker crests, and its upper molars are elongated in a similar way to the Asian badger[4] Transcaucasia, Kopet Dag, Turkmenia, Iran, Afghanistan and possibly Asia Minor minor (Satunin, 1905)

ponticus (Blackler, 1916)

Kizlyar badger
Meles meles heptneri
Ognev, 1931 A large subspecies, it exhibits several traits of the Asian badger, namely its very pale, dull, dirty-greyish-ocherous colour and narrow head stripes.[4] Steppe region of northeastern Ciscaucasia, the Kalmytsk steppes and the Volga delta
Iberian badger
Meles meles marianensis
Graells, 1897 Iberian Peninsula mediterraneus (Barrett-Hamilton, 1899)
Norwegian badger
Meles meles milleri

File:Meles meles norway 1.JPG

Baryshnikov, Puzachenko and Abramov, 2003 A small subspecies South-west Norway
Rhodes badger
Meles meles rhodius
Festa, 1914 Rhodes
Fergana badger
Meles meles severzovi
Heptner, 1940 A small subspecies with a relatively pure, silvery-grey back with no yellow sheen. The head stripes are wide and occupy the whole ear. Its skull exhibits several features which are transitory between the Asian and European badger[4] Right tributary region of the Panj River, the upper Amu Darya, Pamiro-Alay system, the Fergana Valley and its adjoining southern and mountains bokharensis (Petrov,1953)

Behaviour[]

Diet[]

Calls[]

Reproduction[]

Distribution/habitat[]

References[]

  1. ^ Kranz, A., Tikhonov, A., Conroy, J., Cavallini, P., Herrero, J., Stubbe, M., Maran, T., Fernades, M., Abramov, A. & Wozencraft, C. (2008). Meles meles. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 21 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
  2. ^ Template:MSW3 Wozencraft
  3. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 1253–1254
  4. ^ a b c Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 1254–1255

External links[]

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