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Suggest needs a paragraph on possible (and controversial) involvement of badgers in the spread of bovine tuberculosis. There are current UK government trials of culling in certain areas. Some info on the pages linked at end of article. -- RupertB 19:38, 6 May 2004 (UTC)
I was wondering if it would be completely out of place to add that the very popular Ubuntu Linux distribution has a version called Breezy Badger. Somnoliento 02:39, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
Is this really relevant? While related to badgers in some way, it seems rather out-of-place to me. There's also the issue of the second paragraph: A few Google searches shows nothing much that mentions this event save Wikipedia itself (and any mirrors thereof). If it is accurate, wouldn't it be better off in Badger-Baiting one section above? Laogeodritt 13:56, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Is there not an expression like 'To badger somebody about something" in the meaning of "to repeatedly and insistently ask or query somebody"?
Yes, but nothing to do with this if you please, 'cept it's like a big fierce badger. 61.230.79.242 04:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
There is a den or place at sorts located within the forest refered to Mossflower Woods called Brock Hall and it is located beneath where a Badger watches over its neighbors in the abbey nearby.
So? 61.230.79.242 04:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
Believe the etymology section should be cleaned up, and would suggest that the idea the name badger comes from the fce having a badge on it, is a little spurious.
I have seen other web pages which state the name badger is believed to come from the French word ‘becheur’, meaning digger.
129.35.81.16 13:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC)DT
Why is there only a section on the american badger? Fair enough it is a subfamily but what about all the others? It should either be an article by itself or all the other badgers/families should have a section.
Good idea. 61.230.79.242 04:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
I've replaced this section. GameCreator 21:30, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
The article goes into great detail on what a badger is, but totally ignores the idea of what a badger does -- what kinds of prey animals it targets, when its mating seasons and what its gestation periods are, why it is described as gentle despite being a carnivore, etc.. Is there anyone knowledgeable who can update that? I'll peruse Google for the time being... ;-) -- Jtgibson 13:36, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
I've started a small section on Lifestyle and Diet. Hopefully someone else can better word it and flesh it out. GameCreator 21:31, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
I was about to remove this because there are no sources quoted for any of it, but as I wrote this justification, That Guy From That Show beat me to it. Before anyone reinserts it, here's why I think you shouldn't.
Nothing personal about badgers: I just like references :) -- Telsa (talk) 10:21, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
I know nothing about badgers, and so wouldn't touch the article, but what I came looking for was the range of the different species of badgers. (Badgers are prominent figures in a book series I'm reading, and I was just curious as to which sort would be around.) Any chance of modifying the list of different types of badgers to give their geographical ranges? Miss w 15:45, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
North America and Eurasia. Honey badgers, which aren't true badgers, live in Africa. Dora Nichov 11:50, 3 September 2006 (UTC) Bold text
It's showing a picture of a horse. I have no idea how to change it, so someone might want to do that. 67.23.84.125 15:55, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
I fixed it.
We are amassing a long list of "books with a badger in them". Is this a good thing? Half of them are childrens' books, and talking animals are a fairly standard ingredient in children's books. And the badgers are far from the main characters in several of them. The other thing is that these are all English-language books: apparently there is no M. Blaireau or Herr Dachs worth including? So does this reflect a specific genre in Britain (most of them are UK books) that doesn't exist in Europe, Russia, the rest of the badger's range; or does it simply reflect who edits the article most? Telsa (talk) 08:32, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
2m in length sounds a bit of a 'stretch', this site says 750mm average: [1]
Of course, it would depend on the species, but I agree badgers of any kind don't grow to 2 meters. Dora Nichov 09:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
I wanted to make a wikiproject about ferrets and weasels but it became to small a range so i have made a bigger wikiprojects including all animals in the Musteloidea super family which include both ferrets and weasels and much similar animals. Support would be appreceated.
This new wikiproject includes Badgers
you can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals#Weasels
i also made a little template for the project,
I hope you like it.
This wikiproject is for the superfamily of Musteloidea which currently and surprisingly does not have an article yet. This superfamily includes ferrets and weasels and all of our other furry little weasel like friends. Please put your name on it so this article could have it's very own wikiproject outside of wikiproject animals.
Teh Ferret 19:56, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
This may be the best article ever... though I am somewhat biased... ;) Wilybadger 02:30, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
Should Newsbiscuit.com even be considered a credible source? I browsed there and it appears that they're as credible as fake News Website The Onion. 68.9.223.94
Please stop vandalising this section by removing references. The point is not whether the badgers were or were not deployed by the British, but whether the British can credibly answer the allegation. The 20 June 2007 article may be true, it may not. It is cited as a source of information that could have been seen inside Iraq that was a possible basis for the allegation. Why weren't, for example, the Americans or Australians blamed for deploying the badgers? Why the British? Jumping to the conclusion that the British did not deploy the badgers violates Wikipedia:No_original_research and WP:NPOV. Please remember, we are not exactly talking about UFOs or aliens here. There are videos and photos of the badgers all over the Internet. And it is not as if people are saying the heard the badgers speaking with a midlands accent or something ridiculous like that!
When you have objective proof that the badgers are not part of the British military presence in Iraq, please feel free to add references the relevant sources. Mere denials by the Military of any nation do not constitute an acceptable standard of proof, especially in relation to Iraq. Do you even remember the premise upon which the war was started!! -- 121.209.162.193 21:21, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
Can't agree, I'm afraid. The allegation is a noteworthy event, I'll stick with the text and references as originally included in the article. Feel free to add further references. Thanks. -- 121.209.162.193 23:44, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
This section was finally stabilised after a fairly 'robust' debate by various sceptics who no doubt divide their time between here and the 'Global Warming is a Swindle' pages and who are probably still waiting for those WMDs to turn up in Iraq. So why was it deleted? I prefer the earlier version in which the British are not let off so lightly. If this section gets deleted again without explanation, I will regard this article as up for wholesale revision and revert to that version and add the Badger photoshopped into the tank as a pic, if I can get a royalty free version of it. -- 121.209.163.118 23:03, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm sure - but I'll do it anyway if the section gets deleteted without explanation here. Vandalism is a two way street - if you want to make it one. -- 121.209.163.118 23:12, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Badger: WHAT IS A MALE BADGER CALLED?
I don't what a male badger is called so please may someone give me a response! Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cleverkitten121 ( talk • contribs)
I dunno too, but i do know a female one is a sow. Ribbedebie 16:05, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
EDIT: I know, a male badger is a boar. Ribbedebie 11:12, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Do "shapeshifting badgers" really feature in Japanese folklore, or is this confusion with the raccoon dog? The Japanese word for it, " tanuki", is often mis-translated as badger.
In the Japanese cartoon Doraemon, raccoon dog is often mistranslated as fox or civet. Dora Nichov 11:49, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
There aren't any Badgers IN Japan, are there? ~ SotiCoto ( talk) 20:54, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
article states that badgers don't yawn.
this link shows a pic of a badger yawning. Indianrocks73 ( talk) 05:38, 27 January 2008 (UTC) http://www.badgers.org.uk/badgerpages/american-badger-photo-02.html
Would a badger beat a longhorn cattle in a fight?
I think the cattle would trample the badger. But badgers ARE very fierce and they can defeat dogs much bigger than them. Dora Nichov 11:52, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
Do we need the link to the flash movie on this page? We already have Badger Badger Badger which explains about it. Kirk 11:26, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)
BADGERS ARE COOL LOVE YALL JENNIFER ANN ( JIFNERER)I suggest compromise: a link to the disambiguation page at the top of the article. -- Damian Yerrick 04:38, 6 May 2004 (UTC)
It should be listed in a badgers in culture section —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rds865 ( talk • contribs) 05:51, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
I just removed the popular culture section. Per WP:TRIVIA, such sections are not good methods of organizing information, and there was nothing in the section which seemed relevant enough to include in the rest of the article. Thoughts? -- TeaDrinker 04:03, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
as of right now there is information in the article that should be in such a section. perhaps along with popular views of badgers and if they ever symbolized anything. Rds865 ( talk) 06:04, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
We seem to be going back and forth between the largest indigenous carnivore in the UK and the second largest. Can both sides please cite their sources here so that we can come to a consensus? -- Lonotter 14:51, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
The Carnivore page defines such an animal as having a diet consisting mainly of meat and distinguishes them from obligate carnivores which cannot digest vegetable matter. Eating the occasional plant doesn't make them omnivores. Petecarney 09:55, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
It is a significant pop cultural things featuring badgers. Maybe put it in the pop cultural sections.
Recent edits (eg: [2]) have made various claims about badgers as food and as pests in China, and the consumption of badger milk, all with references given. I've attempted to query these sources, and delete some of what appear to me to be obvious myths, such as the uses of "badger milk". To avoid further edit warring, let's now discuss these issues here.
My difficulty is that the "references" given are clearly not reliable. They are not authoritative research papers, but advertising material repeating "facts" which support the use of their product. These facts may or may not be true, but those sources are not sufficient evidence of their truth.
For example, one source claims that badgers are an agricultural pest in China, and that "villagers" are licensed to catch them. So, are they an agricultural pest? Have we a source from, say, an agricultural research journal on mammal pests in China? Or perhaps it suits the people or the Chinese government to say they are a pest? We can't tell which it is from the ref given. Then, are the people licensed? Do we have a ref about Chinese licensing law, or anything "official" saying that this is done? All we have is a couple of self-interested web-pages which could have made up the whole thing, or (perhaps more likely) be repeating something told them by their equally self-interested suppliers. We need independent refs for this material. For example, what do international conservation organisations have to say about trade in badger products and its legality in China?
Similarly, I am sceptical about badger milk. Again we only have a web-page from a supplier, which gives no details about how you actually milk a badger, is unclear about which species is involved, and does not explain how it is legal (it would not be so in the UK). I suspect a spoof or joke. For something so unlikely we certainly need an independent source.
Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not just a collection of whatever other web-pages happen to say. That's why we need proper reliable refs.
Personally, I find badger meat very tasty – much like very rich beef. But that's original research, so I shan't put it in... Richard New Forest ( talk) 09:32, 26 October 2008 (UTC)
References cited above
Goodness, this discussion is getting long... I think our last two contributions tidy up most of the points, so I'll try to be brief. A few left over:
Regards, Richard New Forest ( talk) 10:43, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
An interesting discussion! But I think it's time to move on now. I've reverted back to Richard's last edit because I believe that it forms the better base on which to continue editing. Please don't simply revert again: after this discussion, doing so would be non-constructive and would probably be considered vandalism. I'll reconsider the references myself and, unless anyone else beats me to it, will probably edit the section to reflect what's been learned above. — SMALL JIM 19:59, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
(UTC)
The IP's version of the section stated that "it is easy to find shish kebabs made from badger meat being sold on the streets". This is not confirmed by the reference, so I have not included it. —
SMALL
JIM
23:26, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
< I don't think we're going to get any cooperation on that point, Richard. So let's build on his version instead. As a start, I've edited its first paragraph to take out the irrelevant parts and request citations for the remaining statements. The edit summary gives detail. IP, in view of the time you've had to research this, I trust you'll provide the requested citations quickly. — SMALL JIM 23:12, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
I've now edited the second paragraph similarly. Details are in the edit summary again. If anyone thinks that the content doesn't match the references, please don't revert, but edit it as appropriate. — SMALL JIM 01:44, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
Well, I'm glad we've broken that impasse! Thanks, IP, for your work on the references. I've just done a bit of tidying and while some of the refs you've provided look good, some don't appear to be. But I'll leave that to Richard to fix - if I may, Richard? — SMALL JIM 10:46, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
Please can we do this as discussed – you have removed perfectly good material, and are on very shaky ground indeed to make accusations of vandalism. If you feel that edits are unfair or wrong, please discuss here, don't just revert them wholesale. If you have good, well-sourced material to add, it is very welcome, but please add it incrementally as discussed at very great length above. Richard New Forest ( talk) 19:09, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
Okay, first things first: DON'T EDIT WAR. IP, if you revert again today you'll break the three revert rule and will be blocked for edit-warring. Secondly, the version you've reverted to has a whole whack of {{fact}} tags in it; when those linger for a period of time, it's quite appropriate to remove them. I'm uncertain as to how you feel the version Smalljim et al have been advocating is not neutral. Their version is not festooned with cite needed tags, and can easily be built upon if you find citations for those particular references. I'll be reverting back to what, from the discussion here, has more consensus; please do not revert until you've found added references. Thanks. Tony Fox (arf!) 21:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
(edit conflict) OK, let's run with this one. Above, IP stated:
"About that reference, it is the website of a company manufacturing, advertising and selling badger milk. It is a perfectly valid reference. If a reference about a company selling badger milk is not a valid reference, i dont know what can be a valid reference."
If you read the verifiability policy you'll see that http://fuego.de/badgermilk/milch.html is in no way a suitable reference for the sentence you attached it to. It fails just about every element of the Sources section: it's not reliable, it's self-published and questionable, and because obtaining milk from badgers is such a surprising claim, it raises the REDFLAG too. In short, it cannot be used to verify your statement that "Badger milk is also a food product obtained from badgers…". Note that I'm specifically not saying that what you say is untrue, but I haven't seen any reliable evidence that it is. If you disagree with this, please ask at the Reliable sources noticeboard. — SMALL JIM 00:28, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
<--deindent - Uh... that Badger Milk referred to in the second link has nothing to do with the one you're talking about. It's a milk company in Wisconsin, whose state animal is the badger. That definitely does nothing to back up your claim. Essentially, I'm going to remove that section at this point - if you can provide another reference to back up that bit, it can go back in. Sorry. Tony Fox (arf!) 05:44, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Sorry, can't find any video of "badger milking". The more I look at the page, the more obvious it is that it's a spoof. For example:
Dear IP, are you seriously still saying this is a genuine web page? Richard New Forest ( talk) 08:26, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
what is the texture of badger hair and why is it used in brushes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.181.97.102 ( talk) 15:04, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
a few words about the etymology section. first, badger goes back to Middle English bageard "badger", just consult Online Etymology Dictionary [4]], Chambers Etymological Dictionary, Webster's 3rd International, Onion's Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, or a number of common dictionaries (though not the OED since it appears to make one mistake after another). second, French blaireau does not mean "corn-horder"! it means "badger", and comes from Old French blair "bald" (itself from Frankish *blari "starred forehead" [akin to English blair] + -eau (a diminutive suffix), so "baldie". not to mention the fact it does not even begin to resemble badger. likewise, becheur is too phonetically distant to give badger in English. despite the source, it is so hard to believe that either of these "possibilities" came from a modern edition of even the OED.
please DO NOT restore this embarrassing nonsense; it really makes this article look unprofessional.
Flibjib8 ( talk) 13:12, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
The term "United Kingdom" refers to all territories of the crown, including islands far removed from Great Britain, which is the correct term for the island containing England, Scotland and Wales. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.164.122.5 ( talk) 18:56, 28 March 2007 (UTC).
The Uk only refers GB and NI, and small islands aroudn them. such as the isle of wight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.184.41.127 ( talk) 19:45, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
"A Scandinavian custom is to put eggshells or styrofoam in one's boots when walking through badger territory, as badgers are believed to bite down until they can hear a crunch.[citation needed] " This is false. I live in scandinavia and its a common myth/joke that some people does this, nobody actually do. It just something locals tell city folks or tourists. So you should change it to something like: "A Scandinavian urban legend states that you should put something crunchy like hardbread or cornflakes in your boots when walking through badger territory, as badgers are believed to bite down until they can hear a crunch.[citation needed]" Or just remove it, it not really important. But the premise of the myth is false, badgers dont care and scandinavians dont belive in this so... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.209.132.246 ( talk) 06:49, 19 December 2009 (UTC)
I added this section and included a reference to Wisconsin. Maybe the literary and folklore references could go here also to separate it from the biology. WU03 02:10, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
What is this trivia about badgers killing people? This seems to me like vandalism.
The name of the statue on top of the capitol is Miss Forward, and I thought it was better to call it by her name. V Schauf ( talk) 16:22, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to know if the badgers are hunted and slaughtered for their fur. Or just shaved like sheep? Where are these badger fur facilities? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.237.101.62 ( talk) 19:28, 10 February 2007 (UTC).
Whats this stuff about badgers "revising underground" and "revising with coyotes". Whats that supposed to mean ? Do you mean to use the word "reside" or is this some new obscure meaning of the word "revise" ? Eregli bob ( talk) 15:29, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
Sections of Ttis article has now been massively cleaned up, but the work is still in progress. As this article has been subject to edit warring and/or vandalism in the past, please discuss these revisions before making any reverts.-- Kudpung ( talk) 00:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
Naked URLs to be cleaned up. Several references are either not verifiable, cannot be accessed, or are foreign language web pagers that are of little use to the English Wkipedia user and reader. Unsourced, or inadequately sourced inclusions can be deleted.-- Kudpung ( talk) 00:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
Wouldn't the name "Brock" for a badger come from Beatrix Potter's story The Tale of Mr. Tod, which concerned a badger named Brock who kidnapped a bunch of baby rabbits with the intent of eating them? Potter's story was written in 1912; well before the 1948 date cited in the article.
It comes from the Irish and Scottish (ie Gaelic) word "broc" (pronounced "bruck") a point which I have now added to the article. -- Qwayfe 16:27, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
Can we put youtube in the articles??? I seen a badger fihgt some golden retrievers but there were too many. Boomshakalakaboom ( talk) 01:34, 30 November 2008 (UTC)
Youtube videos are cool, unfortunately Wikipedia is not a place for links of youtube videos. See Wikipedia:NOT 69.136.72.16 ( talk) 19:42, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
Is this an American spelling or an error? The English spelling is Bahaviour.
I am less concerned with the US vs English spelling than I am with the unnecessary use of apostrophes. Badgers is plural and does not require an apostrophe. If we're talking about a badger's sett then the use of the apostrophe is correct. It's quite simple really. The same rules apply whether it's British or American English Garstonboy ( talk) 08:55, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
In the section "Distribution" it says "Badgers are found in much of North America, Ireland, Great Britain[8] and most of Europe as far as southern Scandinavia.[9] They live as far east as Japan and China. The Javan Ferret badger lives in Indonesia.[citation needed]" (1) If the badger lives throughout Europe "and as far east as..." doesn't it live in much of Asia, too? (2) In other sections of the article, there are references to the badger's behavior in Africa, yet "Distribution" doesn't mention Africa. MichiSmith ( talk) 10:51, 2 January 2011 (UTC)MichiSmith
Melinae is no longer listed under ITIS. Taxobox should probably be removed. Craig Pemberton ( talk) 01:37, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
I was looking for generic toohbrush images on commons and came across this image. While I know badger is used in shaving brushes, toothbrushes seems a little dubious to me. Should the image be removed or text changed? -- 84.251.163.253 ( talk) 11:16, 26 June 2011 (UTC)
The 2nd line of the article says 9 species (+ 2 Stink Badgers); the Classification section mentions 10 (+2). Neither is correct! There are 11 (+2)!
I have amended Classification section to include the Hog Badger (Arctonyx collaris) - which was not only explicitly mentioned in the article's 3rd paragraph, but whose genus was described as containing badgers in the 2nd paragraph!
The article is basically about animals called Badgers, irrespective of whether or not they are actually Badgers! The Giant Florida sea otter and Hagerman's otter are not only called Otters, they are even described as 'Otters' in their articles. On this basis, I have 'removed' them from the article. [I know that the Palaeobiology database includes the Lutrini tribe within Melinae, but this seems to disagree with all other references I have seen].
Have rearranged the Melinae genera is alphabetic order.
Have added referenced note to 'Classification' re subfamily 'Helictidinae' applying to the Ferret Badgers.
PS Replaced 1st paragraph's link to Javan Stink Badger with a link to the more relevant Stink Badger article. Glevum ( talk) 15:43, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
badgers typically give birth to __ young, or do they lay eggs ? ;) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.66.217.119 ( talk) 16:43, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
This article says that the plans for badger culling were announced in December 2011. This issue - and the controversy it has generated - has been in the news in October 2012 (and also discussed on programmes on Radio Four such as Today and Material World) so presumably this issue could be updated. ACEOREVIVED ( talk) 15:46, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
Removed the following text from the etymology section:
It is possibly related to the Romanian viezure ("badger"), a word of uncertain etymology, believed to be inherited from Dacian/ Thracian and related to the Albanian vjedhullë ("badger", "thief") and vjeth ("to steal"), and the Slavic jazvrŭ (" hedgehog"; cf. Croatian jazavac "badger").
The claim gave two refs, one FV since 2010. The other is The Thracian Palatal, the reliability of which is unclear. Speculation in this case does not add anything to a discussion of the etymology of "badger", as the origin of the the eastern European words is even less clear than that of the English word. I'm memorializing it here in case anyone wishes to press the point. Richigi ( talk) 18:52, 8 March 2013 (UTC)
I've cut "At best a reduction of some 16% in bTB would occur if all the badgers were culled leaving 84% of the problem remaining" as this seemed like a misunderstanding of the Krebs report of a "9-16% reduction in disease incidence" after nine years of culling - that figure isn't for every single badger being culled.
On reflection, I've cut this whole paragraph back a lot further - there's a whole article on the subject at Badger culling in the United Kingdom and we don't need to get into the minutiae of how respectable a certain lobby group might have been, on an article about badgers as a species. -- McGeddon ( talk) 18:52, 29 August 2013 (UTC)
There's been a section posted in this article with the lyrics for the Badgers song. Reverting EDIT: Someone beat me to it...goodgoodgood!
hehehe that was me you fools Reedfrost ( talk) 04:02, 11 October 2008 (UTC) 70.162.133.122 ( talk) 00:25, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
From the article:
Well, of course if you include skunks with "badgers" they don't form a valid clade. But the question is: do the Melinae, Mellivorinae, and Taxideinae together form a valid clade? My impression was that they do not (and I seem to recall reading somewhere that even Melinae is in question), but this sentence implies that they do. Does anybody know? — Quintucket ( talk) 04:38, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Suggest needs a paragraph on possible (and controversial) involvement of badgers in the spread of bovine tuberculosis. There are current UK government trials of culling in certain areas. Some info on the pages linked at end of article. -- RupertB 19:38, 6 May 2004 (UTC)
I was wondering if it would be completely out of place to add that the very popular Ubuntu Linux distribution has a version called Breezy Badger. Somnoliento 02:39, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
Is this really relevant? While related to badgers in some way, it seems rather out-of-place to me. There's also the issue of the second paragraph: A few Google searches shows nothing much that mentions this event save Wikipedia itself (and any mirrors thereof). If it is accurate, wouldn't it be better off in Badger-Baiting one section above? Laogeodritt 13:56, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Is there not an expression like 'To badger somebody about something" in the meaning of "to repeatedly and insistently ask or query somebody"?
Yes, but nothing to do with this if you please, 'cept it's like a big fierce badger. 61.230.79.242 04:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
There is a den or place at sorts located within the forest refered to Mossflower Woods called Brock Hall and it is located beneath where a Badger watches over its neighbors in the abbey nearby.
So? 61.230.79.242 04:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
Believe the etymology section should be cleaned up, and would suggest that the idea the name badger comes from the fce having a badge on it, is a little spurious.
I have seen other web pages which state the name badger is believed to come from the French word ‘becheur’, meaning digger.
129.35.81.16 13:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC)DT
Why is there only a section on the american badger? Fair enough it is a subfamily but what about all the others? It should either be an article by itself or all the other badgers/families should have a section.
Good idea. 61.230.79.242 04:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
I've replaced this section. GameCreator 21:30, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
The article goes into great detail on what a badger is, but totally ignores the idea of what a badger does -- what kinds of prey animals it targets, when its mating seasons and what its gestation periods are, why it is described as gentle despite being a carnivore, etc.. Is there anyone knowledgeable who can update that? I'll peruse Google for the time being... ;-) -- Jtgibson 13:36, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
I've started a small section on Lifestyle and Diet. Hopefully someone else can better word it and flesh it out. GameCreator 21:31, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
I was about to remove this because there are no sources quoted for any of it, but as I wrote this justification, That Guy From That Show beat me to it. Before anyone reinserts it, here's why I think you shouldn't.
Nothing personal about badgers: I just like references :) -- Telsa (talk) 10:21, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
I know nothing about badgers, and so wouldn't touch the article, but what I came looking for was the range of the different species of badgers. (Badgers are prominent figures in a book series I'm reading, and I was just curious as to which sort would be around.) Any chance of modifying the list of different types of badgers to give their geographical ranges? Miss w 15:45, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
North America and Eurasia. Honey badgers, which aren't true badgers, live in Africa. Dora Nichov 11:50, 3 September 2006 (UTC) Bold text
It's showing a picture of a horse. I have no idea how to change it, so someone might want to do that. 67.23.84.125 15:55, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
I fixed it.
We are amassing a long list of "books with a badger in them". Is this a good thing? Half of them are childrens' books, and talking animals are a fairly standard ingredient in children's books. And the badgers are far from the main characters in several of them. The other thing is that these are all English-language books: apparently there is no M. Blaireau or Herr Dachs worth including? So does this reflect a specific genre in Britain (most of them are UK books) that doesn't exist in Europe, Russia, the rest of the badger's range; or does it simply reflect who edits the article most? Telsa (talk) 08:32, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
2m in length sounds a bit of a 'stretch', this site says 750mm average: [1]
Of course, it would depend on the species, but I agree badgers of any kind don't grow to 2 meters. Dora Nichov 09:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
I wanted to make a wikiproject about ferrets and weasels but it became to small a range so i have made a bigger wikiprojects including all animals in the Musteloidea super family which include both ferrets and weasels and much similar animals. Support would be appreceated.
This new wikiproject includes Badgers
you can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals#Weasels
i also made a little template for the project,
I hope you like it.
This wikiproject is for the superfamily of Musteloidea which currently and surprisingly does not have an article yet. This superfamily includes ferrets and weasels and all of our other furry little weasel like friends. Please put your name on it so this article could have it's very own wikiproject outside of wikiproject animals.
Teh Ferret 19:56, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
This may be the best article ever... though I am somewhat biased... ;) Wilybadger 02:30, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
Should Newsbiscuit.com even be considered a credible source? I browsed there and it appears that they're as credible as fake News Website The Onion. 68.9.223.94
Please stop vandalising this section by removing references. The point is not whether the badgers were or were not deployed by the British, but whether the British can credibly answer the allegation. The 20 June 2007 article may be true, it may not. It is cited as a source of information that could have been seen inside Iraq that was a possible basis for the allegation. Why weren't, for example, the Americans or Australians blamed for deploying the badgers? Why the British? Jumping to the conclusion that the British did not deploy the badgers violates Wikipedia:No_original_research and WP:NPOV. Please remember, we are not exactly talking about UFOs or aliens here. There are videos and photos of the badgers all over the Internet. And it is not as if people are saying the heard the badgers speaking with a midlands accent or something ridiculous like that!
When you have objective proof that the badgers are not part of the British military presence in Iraq, please feel free to add references the relevant sources. Mere denials by the Military of any nation do not constitute an acceptable standard of proof, especially in relation to Iraq. Do you even remember the premise upon which the war was started!! -- 121.209.162.193 21:21, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
Can't agree, I'm afraid. The allegation is a noteworthy event, I'll stick with the text and references as originally included in the article. Feel free to add further references. Thanks. -- 121.209.162.193 23:44, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
This section was finally stabilised after a fairly 'robust' debate by various sceptics who no doubt divide their time between here and the 'Global Warming is a Swindle' pages and who are probably still waiting for those WMDs to turn up in Iraq. So why was it deleted? I prefer the earlier version in which the British are not let off so lightly. If this section gets deleted again without explanation, I will regard this article as up for wholesale revision and revert to that version and add the Badger photoshopped into the tank as a pic, if I can get a royalty free version of it. -- 121.209.163.118 23:03, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm sure - but I'll do it anyway if the section gets deleteted without explanation here. Vandalism is a two way street - if you want to make it one. -- 121.209.163.118 23:12, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Badger: WHAT IS A MALE BADGER CALLED?
I don't what a male badger is called so please may someone give me a response! Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cleverkitten121 ( talk • contribs)
I dunno too, but i do know a female one is a sow. Ribbedebie 16:05, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
EDIT: I know, a male badger is a boar. Ribbedebie 11:12, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Do "shapeshifting badgers" really feature in Japanese folklore, or is this confusion with the raccoon dog? The Japanese word for it, " tanuki", is often mis-translated as badger.
In the Japanese cartoon Doraemon, raccoon dog is often mistranslated as fox or civet. Dora Nichov 11:49, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
There aren't any Badgers IN Japan, are there? ~ SotiCoto ( talk) 20:54, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
article states that badgers don't yawn.
this link shows a pic of a badger yawning. Indianrocks73 ( talk) 05:38, 27 January 2008 (UTC) http://www.badgers.org.uk/badgerpages/american-badger-photo-02.html
Would a badger beat a longhorn cattle in a fight?
I think the cattle would trample the badger. But badgers ARE very fierce and they can defeat dogs much bigger than them. Dora Nichov 11:52, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
Do we need the link to the flash movie on this page? We already have Badger Badger Badger which explains about it. Kirk 11:26, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)
BADGERS ARE COOL LOVE YALL JENNIFER ANN ( JIFNERER)I suggest compromise: a link to the disambiguation page at the top of the article. -- Damian Yerrick 04:38, 6 May 2004 (UTC)
It should be listed in a badgers in culture section —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rds865 ( talk • contribs) 05:51, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
I just removed the popular culture section. Per WP:TRIVIA, such sections are not good methods of organizing information, and there was nothing in the section which seemed relevant enough to include in the rest of the article. Thoughts? -- TeaDrinker 04:03, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
as of right now there is information in the article that should be in such a section. perhaps along with popular views of badgers and if they ever symbolized anything. Rds865 ( talk) 06:04, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
We seem to be going back and forth between the largest indigenous carnivore in the UK and the second largest. Can both sides please cite their sources here so that we can come to a consensus? -- Lonotter 14:51, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
The Carnivore page defines such an animal as having a diet consisting mainly of meat and distinguishes them from obligate carnivores which cannot digest vegetable matter. Eating the occasional plant doesn't make them omnivores. Petecarney 09:55, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
It is a significant pop cultural things featuring badgers. Maybe put it in the pop cultural sections.
Recent edits (eg: [2]) have made various claims about badgers as food and as pests in China, and the consumption of badger milk, all with references given. I've attempted to query these sources, and delete some of what appear to me to be obvious myths, such as the uses of "badger milk". To avoid further edit warring, let's now discuss these issues here.
My difficulty is that the "references" given are clearly not reliable. They are not authoritative research papers, but advertising material repeating "facts" which support the use of their product. These facts may or may not be true, but those sources are not sufficient evidence of their truth.
For example, one source claims that badgers are an agricultural pest in China, and that "villagers" are licensed to catch them. So, are they an agricultural pest? Have we a source from, say, an agricultural research journal on mammal pests in China? Or perhaps it suits the people or the Chinese government to say they are a pest? We can't tell which it is from the ref given. Then, are the people licensed? Do we have a ref about Chinese licensing law, or anything "official" saying that this is done? All we have is a couple of self-interested web-pages which could have made up the whole thing, or (perhaps more likely) be repeating something told them by their equally self-interested suppliers. We need independent refs for this material. For example, what do international conservation organisations have to say about trade in badger products and its legality in China?
Similarly, I am sceptical about badger milk. Again we only have a web-page from a supplier, which gives no details about how you actually milk a badger, is unclear about which species is involved, and does not explain how it is legal (it would not be so in the UK). I suspect a spoof or joke. For something so unlikely we certainly need an independent source.
Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not just a collection of whatever other web-pages happen to say. That's why we need proper reliable refs.
Personally, I find badger meat very tasty – much like very rich beef. But that's original research, so I shan't put it in... Richard New Forest ( talk) 09:32, 26 October 2008 (UTC)
References cited above
Goodness, this discussion is getting long... I think our last two contributions tidy up most of the points, so I'll try to be brief. A few left over:
Regards, Richard New Forest ( talk) 10:43, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
An interesting discussion! But I think it's time to move on now. I've reverted back to Richard's last edit because I believe that it forms the better base on which to continue editing. Please don't simply revert again: after this discussion, doing so would be non-constructive and would probably be considered vandalism. I'll reconsider the references myself and, unless anyone else beats me to it, will probably edit the section to reflect what's been learned above. — SMALL JIM 19:59, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
(UTC)
The IP's version of the section stated that "it is easy to find shish kebabs made from badger meat being sold on the streets". This is not confirmed by the reference, so I have not included it. —
SMALL
JIM
23:26, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
< I don't think we're going to get any cooperation on that point, Richard. So let's build on his version instead. As a start, I've edited its first paragraph to take out the irrelevant parts and request citations for the remaining statements. The edit summary gives detail. IP, in view of the time you've had to research this, I trust you'll provide the requested citations quickly. — SMALL JIM 23:12, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
I've now edited the second paragraph similarly. Details are in the edit summary again. If anyone thinks that the content doesn't match the references, please don't revert, but edit it as appropriate. — SMALL JIM 01:44, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
Well, I'm glad we've broken that impasse! Thanks, IP, for your work on the references. I've just done a bit of tidying and while some of the refs you've provided look good, some don't appear to be. But I'll leave that to Richard to fix - if I may, Richard? — SMALL JIM 10:46, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
Please can we do this as discussed – you have removed perfectly good material, and are on very shaky ground indeed to make accusations of vandalism. If you feel that edits are unfair or wrong, please discuss here, don't just revert them wholesale. If you have good, well-sourced material to add, it is very welcome, but please add it incrementally as discussed at very great length above. Richard New Forest ( talk) 19:09, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
Okay, first things first: DON'T EDIT WAR. IP, if you revert again today you'll break the three revert rule and will be blocked for edit-warring. Secondly, the version you've reverted to has a whole whack of {{fact}} tags in it; when those linger for a period of time, it's quite appropriate to remove them. I'm uncertain as to how you feel the version Smalljim et al have been advocating is not neutral. Their version is not festooned with cite needed tags, and can easily be built upon if you find citations for those particular references. I'll be reverting back to what, from the discussion here, has more consensus; please do not revert until you've found added references. Thanks. Tony Fox (arf!) 21:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
(edit conflict) OK, let's run with this one. Above, IP stated:
"About that reference, it is the website of a company manufacturing, advertising and selling badger milk. It is a perfectly valid reference. If a reference about a company selling badger milk is not a valid reference, i dont know what can be a valid reference."
If you read the verifiability policy you'll see that http://fuego.de/badgermilk/milch.html is in no way a suitable reference for the sentence you attached it to. It fails just about every element of the Sources section: it's not reliable, it's self-published and questionable, and because obtaining milk from badgers is such a surprising claim, it raises the REDFLAG too. In short, it cannot be used to verify your statement that "Badger milk is also a food product obtained from badgers…". Note that I'm specifically not saying that what you say is untrue, but I haven't seen any reliable evidence that it is. If you disagree with this, please ask at the Reliable sources noticeboard. — SMALL JIM 00:28, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
<--deindent - Uh... that Badger Milk referred to in the second link has nothing to do with the one you're talking about. It's a milk company in Wisconsin, whose state animal is the badger. That definitely does nothing to back up your claim. Essentially, I'm going to remove that section at this point - if you can provide another reference to back up that bit, it can go back in. Sorry. Tony Fox (arf!) 05:44, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Sorry, can't find any video of "badger milking". The more I look at the page, the more obvious it is that it's a spoof. For example:
Dear IP, are you seriously still saying this is a genuine web page? Richard New Forest ( talk) 08:26, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
what is the texture of badger hair and why is it used in brushes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.181.97.102 ( talk) 15:04, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
a few words about the etymology section. first, badger goes back to Middle English bageard "badger", just consult Online Etymology Dictionary [4]], Chambers Etymological Dictionary, Webster's 3rd International, Onion's Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, or a number of common dictionaries (though not the OED since it appears to make one mistake after another). second, French blaireau does not mean "corn-horder"! it means "badger", and comes from Old French blair "bald" (itself from Frankish *blari "starred forehead" [akin to English blair] + -eau (a diminutive suffix), so "baldie". not to mention the fact it does not even begin to resemble badger. likewise, becheur is too phonetically distant to give badger in English. despite the source, it is so hard to believe that either of these "possibilities" came from a modern edition of even the OED.
please DO NOT restore this embarrassing nonsense; it really makes this article look unprofessional.
Flibjib8 ( talk) 13:12, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
The term "United Kingdom" refers to all territories of the crown, including islands far removed from Great Britain, which is the correct term for the island containing England, Scotland and Wales. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.164.122.5 ( talk) 18:56, 28 March 2007 (UTC).
The Uk only refers GB and NI, and small islands aroudn them. such as the isle of wight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.184.41.127 ( talk) 19:45, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
"A Scandinavian custom is to put eggshells or styrofoam in one's boots when walking through badger territory, as badgers are believed to bite down until they can hear a crunch.[citation needed] " This is false. I live in scandinavia and its a common myth/joke that some people does this, nobody actually do. It just something locals tell city folks or tourists. So you should change it to something like: "A Scandinavian urban legend states that you should put something crunchy like hardbread or cornflakes in your boots when walking through badger territory, as badgers are believed to bite down until they can hear a crunch.[citation needed]" Or just remove it, it not really important. But the premise of the myth is false, badgers dont care and scandinavians dont belive in this so... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.209.132.246 ( talk) 06:49, 19 December 2009 (UTC)
I added this section and included a reference to Wisconsin. Maybe the literary and folklore references could go here also to separate it from the biology. WU03 02:10, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
What is this trivia about badgers killing people? This seems to me like vandalism.
The name of the statue on top of the capitol is Miss Forward, and I thought it was better to call it by her name. V Schauf ( talk) 16:22, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to know if the badgers are hunted and slaughtered for their fur. Or just shaved like sheep? Where are these badger fur facilities? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.237.101.62 ( talk) 19:28, 10 February 2007 (UTC).
Whats this stuff about badgers "revising underground" and "revising with coyotes". Whats that supposed to mean ? Do you mean to use the word "reside" or is this some new obscure meaning of the word "revise" ? Eregli bob ( talk) 15:29, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
Sections of Ttis article has now been massively cleaned up, but the work is still in progress. As this article has been subject to edit warring and/or vandalism in the past, please discuss these revisions before making any reverts.-- Kudpung ( talk) 00:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
Naked URLs to be cleaned up. Several references are either not verifiable, cannot be accessed, or are foreign language web pagers that are of little use to the English Wkipedia user and reader. Unsourced, or inadequately sourced inclusions can be deleted.-- Kudpung ( talk) 00:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
Wouldn't the name "Brock" for a badger come from Beatrix Potter's story The Tale of Mr. Tod, which concerned a badger named Brock who kidnapped a bunch of baby rabbits with the intent of eating them? Potter's story was written in 1912; well before the 1948 date cited in the article.
It comes from the Irish and Scottish (ie Gaelic) word "broc" (pronounced "bruck") a point which I have now added to the article. -- Qwayfe 16:27, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
Can we put youtube in the articles??? I seen a badger fihgt some golden retrievers but there were too many. Boomshakalakaboom ( talk) 01:34, 30 November 2008 (UTC)
Youtube videos are cool, unfortunately Wikipedia is not a place for links of youtube videos. See Wikipedia:NOT 69.136.72.16 ( talk) 19:42, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
Is this an American spelling or an error? The English spelling is Bahaviour.
I am less concerned with the US vs English spelling than I am with the unnecessary use of apostrophes. Badgers is plural and does not require an apostrophe. If we're talking about a badger's sett then the use of the apostrophe is correct. It's quite simple really. The same rules apply whether it's British or American English Garstonboy ( talk) 08:55, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
In the section "Distribution" it says "Badgers are found in much of North America, Ireland, Great Britain[8] and most of Europe as far as southern Scandinavia.[9] They live as far east as Japan and China. The Javan Ferret badger lives in Indonesia.[citation needed]" (1) If the badger lives throughout Europe "and as far east as..." doesn't it live in much of Asia, too? (2) In other sections of the article, there are references to the badger's behavior in Africa, yet "Distribution" doesn't mention Africa. MichiSmith ( talk) 10:51, 2 January 2011 (UTC)MichiSmith
Melinae is no longer listed under ITIS. Taxobox should probably be removed. Craig Pemberton ( talk) 01:37, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
I was looking for generic toohbrush images on commons and came across this image. While I know badger is used in shaving brushes, toothbrushes seems a little dubious to me. Should the image be removed or text changed? -- 84.251.163.253 ( talk) 11:16, 26 June 2011 (UTC)
The 2nd line of the article says 9 species (+ 2 Stink Badgers); the Classification section mentions 10 (+2). Neither is correct! There are 11 (+2)!
I have amended Classification section to include the Hog Badger (Arctonyx collaris) - which was not only explicitly mentioned in the article's 3rd paragraph, but whose genus was described as containing badgers in the 2nd paragraph!
The article is basically about animals called Badgers, irrespective of whether or not they are actually Badgers! The Giant Florida sea otter and Hagerman's otter are not only called Otters, they are even described as 'Otters' in their articles. On this basis, I have 'removed' them from the article. [I know that the Palaeobiology database includes the Lutrini tribe within Melinae, but this seems to disagree with all other references I have seen].
Have rearranged the Melinae genera is alphabetic order.
Have added referenced note to 'Classification' re subfamily 'Helictidinae' applying to the Ferret Badgers.
PS Replaced 1st paragraph's link to Javan Stink Badger with a link to the more relevant Stink Badger article. Glevum ( talk) 15:43, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
badgers typically give birth to __ young, or do they lay eggs ? ;) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.66.217.119 ( talk) 16:43, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
This article says that the plans for badger culling were announced in December 2011. This issue - and the controversy it has generated - has been in the news in October 2012 (and also discussed on programmes on Radio Four such as Today and Material World) so presumably this issue could be updated. ACEOREVIVED ( talk) 15:46, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
Removed the following text from the etymology section:
It is possibly related to the Romanian viezure ("badger"), a word of uncertain etymology, believed to be inherited from Dacian/ Thracian and related to the Albanian vjedhullë ("badger", "thief") and vjeth ("to steal"), and the Slavic jazvrŭ (" hedgehog"; cf. Croatian jazavac "badger").
The claim gave two refs, one FV since 2010. The other is The Thracian Palatal, the reliability of which is unclear. Speculation in this case does not add anything to a discussion of the etymology of "badger", as the origin of the the eastern European words is even less clear than that of the English word. I'm memorializing it here in case anyone wishes to press the point. Richigi ( talk) 18:52, 8 March 2013 (UTC)
I've cut "At best a reduction of some 16% in bTB would occur if all the badgers were culled leaving 84% of the problem remaining" as this seemed like a misunderstanding of the Krebs report of a "9-16% reduction in disease incidence" after nine years of culling - that figure isn't for every single badger being culled.
On reflection, I've cut this whole paragraph back a lot further - there's a whole article on the subject at Badger culling in the United Kingdom and we don't need to get into the minutiae of how respectable a certain lobby group might have been, on an article about badgers as a species. -- McGeddon ( talk) 18:52, 29 August 2013 (UTC)
There's been a section posted in this article with the lyrics for the Badgers song. Reverting EDIT: Someone beat me to it...goodgoodgood!
hehehe that was me you fools Reedfrost ( talk) 04:02, 11 October 2008 (UTC) 70.162.133.122 ( talk) 00:25, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
From the article:
Well, of course if you include skunks with "badgers" they don't form a valid clade. But the question is: do the Melinae, Mellivorinae, and Taxideinae together form a valid clade? My impression was that they do not (and I seem to recall reading somewhere that even Melinae is in question), but this sentence implies that they do. Does anybody know? — Quintucket ( talk) 04:38, 6 December 2013 (UTC)