An unobtrusive, nocturnal animal, the badger (Meles meles) is most often seen as roadkill. In Great Britain alone it is estimated that 50,000 badgers die on the roads every year.
Badgers have been hunted, baited and persecuted over much of Europe for hundreds of years, not least because they are believed to spread bovine TB in cattle.
Mating takes place at any time of the year as the badger uses delayed implantation of the fertilized eggs to ensure the young are born in late winter or early spring. A litter of one to six blind and helpless young are born in separate nesting chambers within the badger's complex burrow, known as a sett. The badger is a social animal living in family groups with up to a dozen members and can sometimes be seen romping playfully with the rest of the clan.
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