Illuminating Facts about Badgers by Dr. David Dixon

Many of us have dogs and cats, when we visit a zoo it is usually to see mammals, children adore them, few of us do not experience a never to be forgotten thrill, at seeing dolphins and whales, but - - how many mammalwatchers do you know? There is not even such a word, but there are millions of birdwatchers, this site is largely given over to them. There are more mammals than birds and we are mammals ourselves, so why is this so?

David and Linda Dixon at Chanonry Point and the daily Dolphin show.

Birds are of course far easier to see, may feed in our gardens and are largely diurnal. Yet another factor is sound, the calls and songs of birds. Their lifestyle is easier to observe, being in the air or in nests in trees as opposed to hidden away in burrows. But now, we are learning so much more about animals thanks to modern camera techniques. We can watch Red Squirrels, Pine Martins and Badgers at feeding stations; communities can now earn a living, showing instead of killing whales, and thanks to world authorities such as Dr David Dixon, we are learning more each day about our relatives. Below, is just a nugget of intriguing information we have learned about Brock.
David is both an academic, (this very day he is working on deep-sea vent animal chromosomes!??) having written over 100 papers on subjects as diverse as deep-sea hydrothermal vent biology, bees and badgers, is a member of too many organisations and has too many interests to mention, but retains his overwhelming enthusiasm for the natural world and will be a regular on this year’s Springwatch.

Some illuminating facts about badger reproduction.

Badgers mate throughout the year, but only give birth in the spring. This posed a conundrum for the early naturalists who described numerous examples of female badgers giving birth after being kept for various periods of time without a mate (up to 1 year). This mystery was solved with the discovery of delayed implantation, whereby fertilised eggs do not develop immediately but instead remain in a state of suspended animation, until such time that conditions are right for embryo development to proceed. In the badger, blastocyst implantation usually takes place around the time of the winter solstice (the shortest day; longest night), in the second half of December, with birth taking place 6-7 weeks afterwards. This reproductive trick, which is also shared by a range of other species, including roe deer and otters, is seen as an adaptation to ensure that the young are provided with the best possible feeding conditions when they start foraging for themselves in the spring.

Badgers show two peaks in mating activity: a large peak in the spring, shortly after the young are born, and a second, smaller peak in the autumn. Based on this bimodal pattern, it was assumed that the reproductive cycle in the badger was regulated by day length (photoperiod) alone, but new findings have identified an additional lunar component influencing the badger’s mating behaviour, with most matings occurring when the moon is in the dark phase (Last Quarter to First Quarter). Thus, reproduction in the badger is under the control of both solar and lunar influences; a first for any species of mammal. If you want to read more about this fascinating discovery see the September 2005 issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Copulation in the group-living badger appears to serve both a social and reproductive function. Intriguingly, because of delayed implantation there is scope for competition between blastocysts originating from different matings, but this remains only theory at the present time. One thing is certain however, if our springs become dryer due to global warming, badgers in this country will suffer from an acute shortage of earthworms, with fewer juveniles surviving to maturity.

David R Dixon
Suggested reading: BBC Wildlife Magazine

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