A badger with a sturdy body and conspicuous black-and-white facial markings.
Its back is gray, its belly and feet are black, and its short tail is furry.
Researchers in the United Kingdom studied the diets of European badgers that shared group territories but usually foraged alone. They compared individuals using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values. Badgers in the same group tended to have markedly different values, suggesting that individuals used distinct foraging niches despite access to the same resources. These differences lasted for several months, and in some animals remained consistent across the two-year study.
Sex affected isotope values, but substantial differences remained that age and sex did not explain. The authors suggested that differences in learning could help maintain these individual foraging patterns.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global
The Mammal Diversity Database lists the European Badger, Meles meles, as Least Concern (LC), based on an IUCN global assessment published in 2016. Current taxonomy treats the closely related Caucasian Badger, Meles canescens, as a separate species; MDD lists no IUCN assessment for that species. The exact fit between the older assessment’s scope and current taxonomy has not been confirmed.