Badger

About this book

The badger is a large mammal, common but very rarely seen in Britain, which has become one of Britain's best-loved animals. It is a very social animal, living in large family groups and maintaining large territories. It is its nocturnal lifestyle that makes it so difficult to see.

This new volume in the New Naturalist series reveals the extraordinary complex life style that allows this secretive animal to live in even the most built-up areas of Britain. It also reveals the facts behind the current role of badgers in transmitting tuberculosis to cattle, a theory that has resulted in some of the most intense wildlife investigation in the past ten years.

Contents

Classification, Geographical Distribution and Conservation Status, Basic Biology, Badger Setts, Diet and Foraging Behaviour, Reproduction and Development, Communication, Social Organisation and Use of Space, The Origins of Social Territoriality in Badgers, Badgers and People, Badgers and Bovine Tuberculosis

Customer Reviews

Biography

Prof Tim Roper has been studying aspects of badger social and territorial behaviour for over twenty years. He is working on projects in the UK (Sussex and Gloucestershire), Luxembourg and Belgium. He has been a Specialist Scientific Advisor to the House of Commons Agriculture Select Committee and contributed to a report by the Government Chief Scientific Advisor on bovine tuberculosis in badgers and cattle in 2007. Apart from trying to get his three young children interested in nature, music and books, his main avocations are food, wine, opera and American literature.