The badger appears to be a medium-sized animal. The common badger has a body length of 60 to 90 cm and a weight of up to 24 kg, with a tail length of 20-25 cm. Males are somewhat larger than females. The badger looks massive due to its peculiar body structure. The animal badger has an oblong body shape, resembling a forward-facing wedge.
The European badger has a narrow elongated muzzle with round shining eyes and a very short neck. The animal badger has short, strong paws with long claws on the toes for digging burrows. The badger looks fluffy because of its long fur, which is quite stiff. Under the main fur, the European badger has a warm and dense undercoat. The fur of the common badger is colored gray or brown, often with a silvery cast, and the lower part of the body is almost black.
The badger looks rather unusual. Its white muzzle has two wide dark stripes that extend from its nose to small ears with white tips. In winter, the badger looks lighter than in summer, when its fur takes on darker hues. In the fall, the badger gains 10 kilograms of fat to its normal weight before hibernating for the winter. During this period, the badger looks particularly large. Where does the badger live? The badger lives almost all over Europe, except only in northern Finland and the Scandinavian Peninsula, as it does not live in frozen soils.
Also, the badger animal lives in Asia Minor and Western Asia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Badger lives in mixed and taiga forests. Sometimes badgers live in mountain ranges, also found in semi-deserts and steppes. The badger lives near bodies of water and sticks to dry areas, avoiding flooded areas. A badger's home is its burrow. Badgers live in deep burrows that they dig on the slopes of gullies, ravines and hills, high banks of rivers or lakes. The badger lives by spending most of its time in the burrow. The common badger is a permanent and conservative animal, so habituated badger burrows are passed down from generation to generation. In areas where food is plentiful, different badger families may form an entire badger city by joining their burrows with each other. Each successive generation of badgers completes their burrows, digging new passages and expanding the family estate. Thus, badgers' burrows turn into an underground city with dozens of exits. Single badgers live in simple burrows, such badger house has one entrance and a nesting chamber. But a large family of badgers lives in entire towns. A badger city is a complex and multilayered underground structure with many entrances and vents, with long tunnels, various passages, and several nesting chambers. Nesting chambers are usually located at a depth of at least 5 meters; they are spacious and lined with dry grass bedding. Badgers arrange their nesting chambers so that rain or ground water does not seep in.
The common badger is a practical animal and likes comfort. Therefore, comfortable and dry badger burrows are often occupied by foxes and raccoon dogs. That is not an easy life of a badger. In addition, the animal badger is a rare cleaner who regularly cleans the burrow, throwing out garbage and periodically replacing the old bedding. Even the badger animal arranges a toilet outside its burrow or sets aside a special place in it. Also in the badger burrow there are various facilities for the household needs of the animal. Badger life is peaceful, so the badger animal has almost no enemies in nature. Wolves and lynxes may be a threat to it. But the main danger for the European badger is man. In some cases, human economic activity leads to the improvement of badger habitat. But on the other hand, a network of built roads in natural areas, increase mortality of this animal and deprive it of its natural habitat. The greatest harm to badger populations comes from humans destroying badger burrows. The badger's home is very important for the animal.
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