I’m really please to discover, after waiting patiently, that this years badger cubs are finally being brave enough to venture above ground.
It’s been really interesting watch through all of the trail camera footage, of which the above film is only a very small selection.
There seems to be two adults looking after the cubs. Mum (Arrow) and another female.
You can see the other female grooming a cub in the clip, then Arrow turns up and the first female very slightly dips her head down.
The other badgers seem to be comfortable with the cubs around and towards the end of the clip you can see an adult walk over as a cub climbs underneath it.
Great footage. Here in Vermont we have a lot of skunks and opossums, but I’ve never managed to locate a den on our property. We don’t have badgers, so it’s fun to learn about them.
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Do you get Honey badgers there?
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You may be thinking of the American badger, which is mostly a western species, and their range doesn’t extend to New England. Groundhogs are very common here, along with porcupines, gray squirrels, red squirrels and chipmunks. Predators include fishers, foxes and eastern coyotes. (I’m probably forgetting some people.) We’ve been observing the same pair of coyotes for several years.
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Wow, coyotes.
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Yes, coyotes in this area (and eastern Canada) are the largest in North America, as they are hybrids of the western coyote and eastern wolf (Canada). They’re more wolf-like in appearance than western coyotes, but much more adaptive to new environments than wolves are.
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Thanks for sharing Alex, makes me wonder how the young ones interact inside the sett with the other adults. Linda
Linda
On 4 May 2018 at 16:12, Appleton Wildlife Diary by Alex White wrote:
> Alex White – Appletonwild posted: “I’m really please to discover, after > waiting patiently, that this years badger cubs are finally being brave > enough to venture above ground. It’s been really interesting watch > through all of the trail camera footage, of which the above film is o” >
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I would love to know
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In 2008, a beautiful BBC Natural World documentary revealed some of what happens underground. Called ‘Badgers: Secrets of the Sett,’ it was narrated by Sir David Attenborough and is available to view at https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6c0pb4.
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That’s brilliant, thank you.
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