Badger - Kashkulak
Badger — Meles meies Linn; (in Kyrgyz: Kashkulak)
The badger is widely distributed across the territory of Kyrgyzstan; it is perhaps even difficult to say where it is not found.
Its vertical range is broad — from valleys cultivated for agriculture (Chuy, Talas, Issyk-Kul) to high mountain ridges at altitudes of 3500—4000 m above sea level.
The habitats of the badger in the republic are very diverse; it can settle in ravines, gullies overgrown with various shrubs, and cliffs along riverbanks. In the foothills, it can be found on slopes and in gorges covered with shrub vegetation. It can also be discovered in spruce and fruit-bearing forests, in shrub and forest thickets along riverbanks, in the strip of high mountain steppes, etc.
The badger is a nocturnal predator, appearing during the day only if it is not disturbed and does not sense any threatening danger. Most of the time, it spends in its burrow during the day. Badgers have been observed during daylight hours in Chatkal and Tien Shan.
Despite its seemingly clumsy appearance, the badger possesses great physical strength. Not every dog can handle it. Unlike other predatory mammals (foxes, wolves, etc.), the badger is known for its cleanliness, as it makes its toilet some distance away from its burrow. The badger is among the hibernating animals; however, its hibernation can be interrupted, and it may come to the surface. There are reports of badgers being encountered in December and January in fruit-bearing forests. Before hibernation, the weight of the badger can increase twofold or more due to fat accumulation. At this time, we have had to hunt a badger whose fat alone weighed 4 kg 850 g.
The biology of badger reproduction is not well studied. Mating occurs in spring, in March-April, and at this time, females give birth to young. Thus, pregnancy lasts about a year.
These authors report cases of fertilization resulting from mating in mid-July, with the gestation period reduced to 271—284 days. Males are active throughout spring and summer. The mating process occurs a few days after giving birth. In Kyrgyzstan, in the valley regions, young appear at the end of February, while in the mountains, at the end of March to early April. The female gives birth to three to four, sometimes seven, young with closed ear canals. At one month of age, their eyes open, teeth emerge, and their fur becomes gray; after two months, the coloration of the young does not differ from that of adults in summer.
They reach sexual maturity in their second year of life. Badger burrows are quite complex, with a deeply located nesting chamber and several exit holes. Badgers often use uninhabited burrows of marmots. It is known that badgers use the same burrow for several years. The structure of the burrow and the depth of the nesting chamber depend on the soil structure and the location of the burrow itself.
The entrance hole is semicircular, reaching a height of 30 cm and a width of up to 50 cm. The nesting chamber is located at a depth of 2—3 m from the surface, with a height of 100 cm and a width of 150 cm. At the bottom of the chamber, there is a nesting bedding made of dry grass and leaves. The nesting chamber may sometimes be located at a depth of 70—100 cm. From the burrows, well-defined paths lead in different directions to feeding and watering places. The presence of badgers can be established by their diggings made in search of food, as well as by their typical droppings, which contain many undigested parts of various beetles.
The badger's diet includes both animal and plant foods. Based on the analysis of stomach contents and fecal matter, B. A. Kuznetsov provides data on the consumption of various insects by badgers in the summer period in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, predominantly beetles (especially dung beetles and click beetles), caterpillars of nocturnal moths, etc. It also feeds on mollusks, worms, mouse-like rodents, frogs, berries, fruits of fruit trees (southern Kyrgyzstan), bulbs, and green parts of plants. It is known that badgers eat the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds.
In spring, plant foods make up 63.7% of the badger's diet, including walnuts — 56.7%; among animal foods, rodents dominate — 6.7%, birds — 4.8%, mollusks — 4%, insects — 4.8%; the total share of animal foods is 36.3%. In summer, the share of rodents increases to 12.5%, birds to 7.2%, earthworms and various insects each make up 10%; during this time, the total share of animal foods rises to 48.4%; among plant foods, apple fruits dominate — 26.8%, plums — 15.2%, and underground parts of plants — 6.2%. In autumn, the share of animal foods decreases to 24%, while among plant foods, walnuts dominate — 32.2%, plums — 14.8%, and 10% consist of hawthorn and barberry fruits and seeds. It is characteristic of the badger that during one hunt, it primarily captures one type of prey. In search of food, the badger moves away from its burrow within a radius of no more than 300—500 m.
The badger molts once a year in summer, starting 1—1.5 months after the end of winter hibernation and finishing by autumn. The timing of its start and end may vary depending on the animal's habitat.
The badger has very few enemies; one can only note the wolf, which rarely preys on it. Badgers are often infected with helminths, and they also have ticks and fleas.
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