Monday, May 19, 2008, 6:35 AM.

As I approached the Nature Center, walking along our winding deck to the front door, I stopped suddenly, as if to avoid a puddle, my eye caught a beautiful set of animal tracks which I followed directly to the front door, then along the back of the Center and veering off into the sagebrush along Spring Creek. A night visitor with mud on its boots. The tracks on the deck were so distinctive, absolutely perfect, as if the animal dipped its paws in an ink well and walked across a sheet of paper. A smile crossed my face as I instantly recognized our late night visitor as the American Badger (Taxidea taxis). Its signature; five toes, long visible claws, chevron-shaped pad, the rear foot is distinctly smaller than the front track, but both showing a ‘toe-in’ pattern indicative of a waddling gait. I have enjoyed watching over the past six years two families of badgers that make their home not more than a few hundred meters from the Nature Center.

Like clockwork, the badgers appear each spring from a semi-dormancy state through the winter. This simply means they are not true hibernators, but they are able to lower their body temperature, heart rate and breathing while curled up in a single burrow used just for the winter dormancy. Once again, at spring time, they start their daily search and ferocious digging pattern after pocket gophers and our ubiquitous ground squirrels. Remarkably, adult badgers have been observed to hunt cooperatively with coyotes. The coyote guards a prairie dog’s escape route while the badger digs, then they share the meal. As a burrowing animal, one can imagine the musculature in its front legs and shoulders combined with front claws over 2 inches in length. I think back to my childhood days playing with friends and experiencing the painful, yet inevitable, dirt in the eyes. Not so with the badger. Their eyes have a protective membrane that protects the eyes from flying dirt. A typical den or burrow will be over 10 feet deep with up to 35 feet of tunnels with special chambers for sleeping, defecating, maternity…quite a sophisticated floor plan considering their building materials are limited to dirt!

An animal of the open sagebrush and grasslands, it breeds in late summer but like all members of the weasel family (mustelids) they experience what is termed ‘delayed implantation’ where the fertilized embryo does not implant until about February. More formally termed ‘diapause’, this characteristic allows for birth to occur under the most favorable conditions. In the life of a badger, and bears as well, an underground den appears to be a safe bet. Young are born in late winter to early spring, spend about 6 weeks in the den, then spend the summer months learning everything there is to know about being a badger and are on their own by fall of that year. Badgers have lived to be 26 years old in captivity. The average lifespan in the wild has been estimated by different researchers at 4 to 5 years and at 9 to 10 years. The oldest wild badger lived to 14 years.

Each summer I have the privilege of watching a mother and her young hunting along the sage covered hills behind the Nature Center and, luckily enough, to catch them swimming across Spring Creek; the mother crossing first then waiting patiently on the opposite bank for her babies to arrive.

I am delighted that we have such neighbors at 3 Creek Ranch and that they swing by every now and then to explore our world, leave a muddy track or two and then return to their earthen home. Please stop by the Nature Center to hear more about badgers or any of our wildlife we share our home with. I look forward to seeing you.

Respectfully,
Roger Smith
Resident Naturalist