The Old Brock.... deceased!

I found the skull of an old Badger in Albury park today.

By the state of his teeth and the tall cranial ridge, he was an old boy when he died. I say male but there is very little difference between sexes, alive or dead and although it may be that larger canine teeth could indicate a male, it's by no way certain. The cranial ridge develops with age.

There is a high juvenile mortality rate in badgers and only around 50% will live beyond two years although they may live for seven or eight years. The main cause of death in adult badgers is starvation and they often have decayed, missing or worn down teeth, while the high juvenile mortality is most often the result of an overload of parasites.

They have very powerful jaws and the lower jaw of an old skull will not separate from the upper... first good clue to identifying the skull.

There is a summer sett under my house. It's a place where the males that are kicked out of the sett by nursing females and on foraging trips use. I doubt it will be used much next year as two dogs in the garden will be off putting.
On one hand it's a shame as I loved seeing it. On the other, I know when it's in residence as Maera goes crazy, whizzing round the sitting room above him.

One night with two week old puppies, Meara decided to go down his hole and I feared I wasn't going to get her back! The dog barking, the badger growling... I dug myself half way down the tunnel desperately calling her back to no avail and my neighbours know I'm demented! I eventually managed to catch her by a back leg and hauled her out unharmed.

The badgers jaws are designed to bite and not let go. Had he got hold of her she would have been a dead Spaniel. I'm afraid there is no way she could win in a battle. I resolved the issue by putting an electric fence around the entrance and turning it on when the dog was in the garden. It wasn't designed to stop the badger coming in... just to stop the dog going near the entrance when she's outside, but it may still be illegal.. but it is also, in theory, illegal to sit on my sofa!