Negotiated Project: Badger (Meles meles)

The Badger is a creature that that is quintessentially British, and is a very identifiable mammal with its black and white fur colour tones, and its stocky build.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58757000/jpg/_58757263_badger-sciencelibrary.jpg < image reference at this link.

They forage for food from early in the morning, to late at night, and often come into gardens in order to dig up soil and lawns to feast on earthworms.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2013/10/20/1382295444744/badger-011.jpg < image reference at this link.

After the extinction of the wolf in Britain, as well as other large predators, such as the bear, the badger's population sharply rose, and it makes the Badger the UK's largest terrestrial carnivore.

http://www.suffolk.police.uk/images/triobadgers485x275.jpg < image reference at this link.

They are often found located in rural areas, such as woodlands, and countryside.

The Badger is a very social animals, and often lives in groups of up to 25 adults and their cubs, in a series of underground and networked tunnels, known as a 'sett'.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/55376000/jpg/_55376849_badger.jpg < image reference at this link.

Badgers breed in the early spring, and female Badgers delay implanting their fertilised eggs into the womb until later on in the year, and this is so that cubs are born in the following January/February.

There are approximately over 300,000 Badgers living in the UK.

The number is rising due to the species having no natural predators, however many are killed by humans through traffic, and also controversial culling to reduce numbers, and halt the spread of disease to farm animals, such as bovine tuberculosis.

http://data5.blog.de/media/854/3207854_a80ce44622_m.jpeg < image reference at this link.

I want to include the Badger in my project, because they are such an identifiable British animal, that is entwined with our culture, and also plays a part in our local wildlife today.