Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Carnivora > Mustelidae > Taxidea > Taxidea taxus

Taxidea taxus (American Badger; badger)

Synonyms: Taxidea americana; Ursus taxus
Language: Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is a North American badger, somewhat similar in appearance to the European badger. It is found in the western and central United States, northern Mexico, and south-central Canada to certain areas of southwestern British Columbia. American badger habitat is typefied by open grasslands with available prey (such as mice, squirrels, and groundhogs). The species prefers areas such as prairie regions with sandy loam soils where it can dig more easily for its prey.
View Wikipedia Record: Taxidea taxus

Infraspecies

Taxidea taxus berlandieri (American badger)
Taxidea taxus jacksoni (American badger)
Taxidea taxus jeffersonii (American badger)
Taxidea taxus marylandica
Taxidea taxus taxus (American badger)

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
8
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
33
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 16.67
EDGE Score: 2.87
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  17.637 lbs (8.00 kg)
Birth Weight [1]  94 grams
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Ectothermic [2]  20 %
Diet - Endothermic [2]  70 %
Diet - Invertibrates [2]  10 %
Forages - Ground [2]  100 %
Female Maturity [1]  6 months 3 days
Male Maturity [1]  1 year 2 months
Gestation [1]  41 days
Hibernates [3]  Yes
Litter Size [1]  3
Litters / Year [1]  1
Maximum Longevity [1]  25 years
Nocturnal [3]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [4]  25 inches (64 cm)
Weaning [1]  56 days

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (103)

Ecosystems

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
California Floristic Province Mexico, United States No
Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Mexico, United States No
Mesoamerica Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama No

Emblem of

Wisconsin

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Aquila chrysaetos (Golden Eagle)[5]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 4Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 5Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 6Ammospermophilus nelsoni, Troy L. Best, Amy S. Titus, Cynthia L. Lewis, and Katharine Caesar, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 367, pp. 1-7 (1990)
♦ 7SPECIES ASSESSMENT FOR PYGMY RABBIT (BRACHYLAGUS IDAHOENSIS) IN WYOMING, DOUGLAS A. KEINATH AND MATTHEW MCGEE, United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Wyoming State Office Cheyenne, Wyoming (2004)
♦ 8Conepatus leuconotus (Carnivora: Mephitidae), JERRY W. DRAGOO AND STEVEN R. SHEFFIELD, MAMMALIAN SPECIES 827:1–8 (2009)
♦ 9The Sagebrush Sea by Cornell Lab of Ornithology
♦ 10Cynomys ludovicianus, John L. Hoogland, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 535, pp. 1-10 (1996)
♦ 11Dipodomys ingens, Daniel F. Williams and Kerry S. Kilburn, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 377, pp. 1-7 (1991)
♦ 12Dipodomys spectabilis, Troy L. Best, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 311, pp. 1-10 (1988)
♦ 13Geomys bursarius (Rodentia: Geomyidae), MATTHEW B. CONNIOR, MAMMALIAN SPECIES 43(879):104–117 (2011)
♦ 14SPECIES ASSESSMENT FOR LONG-BILLED CURLEW (NUMENIUS AMERICANUS) IN WYOMING, DARBY N. DARK-SMILEY and DOUGLAS A. KEINATH, Wyoming Natural Diversity Database 2000
♦ 15Seed predation and dispersal in a dominant desert plant: Opuntia, ants, birds, and mammals, Mario González-Espinosa and Pedro F. Quintana-Ascencio, Frugivores and Seed Dispersal (eds A. Estrada & T. H. Fleming.), pp. 273–284. Dr W. Junk, Publishers, Dordrecht.
♦ 16Spermophilus variegatus, Emily C. Oaks, Paul J. Young, Gordon L. Kirkland, Jr., and David F. Schmidt, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 272, pp. 1-8 (1987)
♦ 17Spermophilus franklinii, Andrea C. Ostroff and Elmer J. Finck, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 724, pp. 1–5 (2003)
♦ 18Sylvilagus audubonii, Joseph A. Chapman and Gale R. Willner, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 106, pp. 1-4 (1978)
♦ 19Tamias amoenus, Dallas A. Sutton, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 390, pp. 1-8 (1992)
♦ 20Tamias dorsalis, E. Blake Hart, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 399, pp. 1-6 (1992)
♦ 21Tamias merriami, Troy L. Best and Nancy J. Granai, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 476, pp. 1-9 (1994)
♦ 22Thomomys bottae, Cheri A. Jones and Colleen N. Baxter, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 742, pp. 1–14 (2004)
♦ 23Spermophilus armatus, Bruce D. Eshelman and Cara S. Sonnemann, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 637, pp. 1–6 (2000)
♦ 24Spermophilus beldingi, Stephen H. Jenkins and Bruce D. Eshelman, Mammalian Species No. 221, pp. 1-8 (1984)
♦ 25Spermophilus brunneus, Eric Yensen and Paul W. Sherman, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 560, pp. 1-5 (1997)
♦ 26Spermophilus columbianus, Charles L. Elliott and Jerran T. Flinders, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 372, pp. 1-9 (1991)
♦ 27Spermophilus elegans, David A. Zegers, Mammalian Species No. 214, pp. 1-7 (1984)
♦ 28Spermophilus richardsonii, Gail R. Michener and James W. Koeppl, Mammalian Species No. 243, pp. 1-8, (1985)
♦ 29Spermophilus townsendii, Eric A. Rickart, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 268, pp. 1-6 (1987)
♦ 30Spermophilus washingtoni, Eric A. Rickart and Eric Yensen, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 371, pp. 1-5 (1991)
♦ 31SPECIES ASSESSMENT FOR SWIFT FOX (VULPES VELOX) IN WYOMING, DARBY N. DARK-SMILEY AND DOUGLAS A. KEINATH, prepared for United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, December 2003
♦ 32Spermophilus tereticaudus, Kristina A. Ernest and Michael A. Mares, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 274, pp. 1-9 (1987)
♦ 33Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 34International Flea Database
♦ 35Nunn, C. L., and S. Altizer. 2005. The Global Mammal Parasite Database: An Online Resource for Infectious Disease Records in Wild Primates. Evolutionary Anthroplogy 14:1-2.
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0