Are Badgers Nocturnal?
Are Badgers nocturnal?
Badgers are known for being nocturnal creatures in a majority of habitats. However, sometimes it’s possible to see badgers out during the day if they’re up at the crack of dawn or on their way home from an all-night rave. Or maybe someone has been feeding them and getting too close to them, so they’re just trying to get away.
Badgers can move around and hunt throughout the night because their eyesight is amongst the sharpest of all carnivores. It allows them to easily pick out tasty grubs sleeping beneath the soil that are otherwise impossible to track down using scent alone. Despite this advantage over other animals, badgers’ sense of smell is significantly less developed than many animals, including humans! This makes it possible for badgers to spend the day in large underground tunnels known as setts without fear of being detected.
Badgers – Creatures of the night!
Humans are physical and intellectual lightweights compared with our badger friends. Unlike us, they are strong enough to fight bears (though thankfully there is no bear population in Great Britain) and don’t need to stop for tea breaks every couple of hours!
Badgers have even been seen out during the daytime when their setts get flooded by rainwater or snowmelt due to climate change-induced extreme weather events, which could lead them into human territory rather than back home where it’s dry. Badgers can easily swim short distances underwater using a dog paddle, but they’re more comfortable on the land where steep climbing slopes are often a struggle. Their front legs are relatively short compared to other mustelids, adapting to digging tunnels. Badgers, therefore, stay in setts until the weather is temperate enough for them to emerge and explore their surroundings again.
Badgers have many natural predators that they avoid by living in groups rather than on their own like other solitary creatures such as honey badgers and meerkats. Badger numbers have remained remarkably consistent over time due to the wide range of habitats they can live in! In Great Britain, we’re lucky enough to share our land with these cute furballs who sometimes pass through our gardens during the night if they’ve been out hunting worms or looking for mates.
So next time you think you see a badger during daylight hours, don’t shoot it with your t-shirt cannon – they might be more resilient than you expect!
-
$20.00 – $29.00 inc. VatSelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
-
$20.00 – $29.00 inc. VatSelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
-
$20.00 – $29.00 inc. VatSelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
-
$20.00 – $29.00 inc. VatSelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page