Badgers are not really one kind of animal, just a body plan built for digging
The European badger, the honey badger and the American badger look like close cousins, but biologists say the name describes a lifestyle rather than a family tree. Badgers are squat, short-legged diggers that evolved within two different carnivore families. Even their jaws are locked into the skull in a way few mammals share.
Within the superfamily Musteloidea, badgers turn up in the weasel family and the skunk family, and both families also contain plenty of animals nobody would call a badger. Fifteen mustelid species carry the name, spread across four subfamilies, from the European badger and ferret-badgers to the honey badger, or ratel, and the American badger. The American badger is actually the earliest branch of all mustelids, splitting off about 17.8 million years ago. Asia's stink badgers were long filed with the Eurasian badgers until genetic work moved them over to the skunks.
The shared design is practical. A short, wide body sits on stubby digging legs, topped by a long weasel-like head with small ears, a black face with white markings and a pale stripe running along a grey back. The lower jaw's hinge fits into a long cavity in the skull, making dislocation very difficult and strengthening the grip, at the price of restricting the jaw to opening, closing and sliding sideways. Most weigh around 9 to 11 kilograms, though some Eurasian badgers reach 18.
All badgers shelter underground in burrows called setts, which can be enormous. Some live alone, others in clans of two to 15. They are nocturnal, can gallop at 25 to 30 kilometres per hour in short bursts, and some climb: in March 2024 researchers released video of a wild Asian badger 2.5 metres up a tree in South Korea. The Eurasian badger eats mostly earthworms along with insects, eggs, roots and fruit, while American badgers tunnel after rodents, sometimes hunting in partnership with coyotes.
The English word probably comes from bageard, a 16th-century term thought to refer to the badge-like white blaze on the forehead. The older name brock is borrowed from Celtic and means grey, and the Germanic root behind German Dachs likely meant to construct, honouring the animal's tunnelling.
Source: Badger
