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43 <br />Life History. The main food source for badgers is ground squirrels and pocket gophers; <br />however, they also are known to feed on a variety of other small- to medium-sized mammals <br />including deer mice, voles, and rats; on plant roots; on reptiles and their eggs; and on birds and <br />their eggs. Badgers are opportunistic foragers and their food sources shift seasonally with <br />availability. <br />Badgers generally breed in late summer or early fall, experiencing a delayed implantation. <br />Although the badger female is technically pregnant for seven months, actual gestation takes 6 <br />weeks. Most cubs (pups or kits) are born in March or April and litter size ranges from 1 to 5 <br />with an average of 3 (Long 1973). Females can breed as young as 4 to 6 months of age; <br />however, their first litter usually occurs after one year of age. Males do not usually breed until <br />after their second year. Badger cubs are born blind, furred and helpless (ibid). Their eyes open <br />between 4 and 6 weeks of age, and they are nursed for approximately 2 months. After 2 months <br />of age the mother starts supplementing their diet with solid food, usually small rodents. Most <br />young disperse shortly after weaning, while some remain in their natal area until the next <br />breeding season. They may roam up to 100 km (62 miles) to find their own home range. The <br />average life of badgers in the wild is between 8 and 12 years. <br />The home range size for badgers varies by sex, season and prey base, with males having larger <br />home ranges than females. One study indicated males had an average home range of 2,100 <br />acres, while one radio collared female had a home range of 1,790 acres in summer, 131 acres in <br />fall, and only 5 acres during the winter (Sargeant and Warner 1972). Another study indicated a <br />home range size between 667 and 1,550 acres for both sexes (Lindzey 1978). <br />Badgers often hunt for prey by digging into fossorial mammal burrows. Coyotes have been <br />known to follow badgers to take advantage of an easy meal as rodents are flushed from their <br />burrows. Badgers may enlarge hunting burrows for sleeping and protection from weather. <br />During the summer months, they dig new resting burrows nearly every day; these burrows are <br />usually only a few feet deep. Their natal dens are more permanent and may be as much as 30 <br />feet long and 10 feet deep (Banfield 1974).