badgers in southern ont

[dog12008]

I'm in Haldimand County and I have seen one but it was dead on the side of the road and i told my friend it would have been better if i had seen it alive and not dead on the side of the road.

[JMatthews]

One of my neighbours told me that there have been sightings in our area. It would be nice to see one.

[NorthernGrouse]

here is a link about Ontario Badgers : http://www.ontariobadgers.org/biology.html

Thank you for sharing the link, it is a good read. A couple of things that I found interesting:

How do badgers catch their prey?
Usually they catch their prey by digging them out, though they also catch fleeing prey above ground in some cases. Badgers will occasionally plug one entrance of a burrow with various objects while they corner the prey from another entrance, making them one of the few animals known to use tools.

Shaving brushes provided the main demand for badger fur and trapping

[Splaker]

are they related to wolverines? They kinda look alike..

[GW11]

are they related to wolverines? They kinda look alike..

Yeah, all part of the same family...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustelidae

[MikePal]

are they related to wolverines? They kinda look alike..

It was my first thought too.....This is the primary differences;

American Badger

Built flat, wide, and low to the ground, the American badger (Taxidea taxus) has incredibly loose-fitting skin with a thick layer of fat under it. This skin helps the badger slip and slide in underground tunnels. The fat layer grows thicker in fall to keep the badger warm through the cold season.

Not many animals can dig better or faster than a badger can. Active at night, badgers use powerful front legs and long claws to dig many long, deep burrows - up to 60 feet long - and to hunt for ground squirrels, gophers, and other burrowing animals.

Badgers live throughout Minnesota in open, treeless areas where there is plenty of prey.

Two to seven baby badgers are born blind in underground dens. When they grow up, badgers are fierce and strong. Not many predators will attack an adult badger.

Wolverine

Wolverines (Gulo gulo) have large feet and long claws, and look like small bears. In fact, because of its strong odor and bearlike appearance, American Indians once called the wolverine "skunk bear."

In North America, wolverines range throughout the forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska. At one time wolverines inhabited Minnesota's wilderness, but we don't know how many lived there. Wolverines are hard to find because they roam very large, remote territories ranging up to 566 square miles. Perhaps they were never more common in Minnesota than they are today. The last record of this species in Minnesota was a specimen taken in 1899 in Itasca County.

The wolverine is a good tree climber and eats just about anything, from cranberries to carrion. Gulo is Latin for glutton: Like other weasel family members, the wolverine has a big appetite. It protects its food stores by marking the food with a musk odor to keep away other carnivores.

Although not much bigger than a medium-size dog, the wolverine is ferocious. Its natural enemy is the wolf.

[Waftrudnir]

don't get too excited about them...
they are smart, nocturnal and like corn - I bet they are here to stay!
pelts look nice, but other than saving brushes they aren’t good for much. Some people use the lard as some homeopathic remedies.
Make sure your dog doesn't fit into the hole if you have a den nearby. Not too many dogs will see daylight thereafter...

[mattc]

i have seen track out here in welland

[GrouseWhisperer]

I saw a few in Alberta this past summer while out there shooting gophers. Crazy-looking things...never seen anything like it. The damage they do to land is pretty dramatic though, way worse than a groundhog. My buddy (an Albertan) never got a shot opportunity on one, which was frustrating for him...as farmers out there hate badgers. Seems our gopher-population-thinning was so well-received because they're one of the badger's favorite snacks out there. Clear the gophers, the badgers move on.On an Ontario note...I THINK I read something about groundhogs in Ontario actually being protected in 1 situation only~if their holes were within a certain distance of a badger's. Didn't specify why...but I was guessing it had to do with maintaining a food source..? Can anyone confirm that? I stumbled on that in the regs somewhere, now can't find it after searching!

[Stevedigs04]

Saw one run across the road in front of my truck in Amherstburg!

100% a badger very low stock wide classic white stripe head!

Cool to see terrifying though lol.

-Steve