A male badger is called a boar, a female a sow, and young badgers are called cubs or kits.

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Aren't they adorable! These are Eurasian Badger kits (Meles meles), as the name suggests, are found across Europe and Asia, although appearance and habits differ slightly from region to region. Badgers are fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals belonging to the mustelid family, and so are related to stoats, weasels, martens and otters.

A mustelid is a member of the weasel family. This varied group of animals includes the Least Weasel, River Otter, Wolverine, Mink, Marten, American Badger, Striped Skunk, and ferret. These mammals share characteristics such as short legs and thick fur.

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The appearance of the badger tells you a lot about the way it lives. An adult badger is about the same size as a Labrador dog but with much shorter and more muscular legs. This ‘low slung’ physique is ideally suited to a life underground (so the tunnels don’t need to be so high) and for feeding off small food items on the ground.

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The badger’s powerful legs and long claws make it a strong digger, indeed the word ‘badger’ possibly comes from an old French word becheur, meaning ‘digger’. One of the characteristics of a badger sett is a large mound of soil outside the entrance that the badgers have excavated when digging their tunnels.

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Like all mustelids, badgers have five toes on each foot. Dogs, cats and foxes only have four, the fifth being a ‘dew claw’ on the back of the leg. This is one way to recognize badger tracks – if there are five toes, it could well be a badger (although confusingly as the fifth toe is quite small and not always visible).

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Couldn't resist adding this one lol

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lol...no, I'm not alumni.

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Looking at the nutritional info, there doesn't appear to be any!

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An interesting video regarding the coyote/badger connection: http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/animal-planet-presents/videos/top-10-odd-animal-couples-badger-coyote.htm

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