Badger

Badger
Dog Terms	Badger
Human Terms	Badger
Book Appearances	The Broken Path

Badgers are nocturnal, medium-sized animals that are hostile towards dogs.

Description

Real life badgers measure 30 to 35 inches when full-grown, their short fluffy tails adding an extra 5.5 on average to their overall length. They live in underground in burrows known as setts. Badgers are wide and flat-backed, weighing in at 12 to 16 pounds. Their coats are mostly gray, with a light tan or creamy white under belly and a white stripe snaking from between the eyes and ending at the shoulders. Coming winter, they store about 20 extra pounds of fat to endure the winter, although they do not hibernate like bears.

Their eyes are low and level with their head’s sides. Badgers are digitigrade, and low to the ground with black five-toed feet. Male badgers become sexually mature as yearling and about 30% of females start breeding as yearlings. Badgers are fierce territorial animals, built with loose fitting skin, which prevents other animals from latching on with their teeth.

History

In the Original Series

The Broken Path

During a stroll together, Lucky and Bella hear Lightning and begin to bark in the skies. The two are in complete awe and alarm, so they run the rest of the way. They continue bounding toward camp until they encounter a badger. 

The badger turns on Bella, scrambling onto her back. It sinks its teeth into her neck and raking long claws across her shoulder, causing her to yelp and stagger in affliction. Lucky comes to his sister's rescue, taking the badger off of her back. It has tremendous speed, making the two dogs surprised. 

Together, they kill the creature. Bella pants to her brother on how it was now dead, crouching low to the ground while trembling. Lucky questions his sister about her condition, and she confirms that she was fine, pointing out that he had an injury himself. 

In the Gathering Darkness Series

Dead of Night

During a hunting patrol, Storm recognizes that there is no wind blowing, which is why she can not sm ell the scrape odors of badgers and other animals.