The Injured Badger Hole Adventure is not over until it’s over. Bandit the Badger decided that the old sett deserves a new lease on life and made the adventure go on.
After reclaiming the abandoned sett and cleaning it up for him to call home, my trail camera captured the moment when Bandit was joined by another badger outside the sett. It’s unclear if they were related, if it was a random encounter, or if there was a possible mating interest. The two badgers explored their surroundings and groomed each other, a rare sight indeed!
This was the first time that Bandit had been caught on camera with another badger, and I can’t wait to see what else we can discover about his life in the future. With the newly refurbished sett as his home, I will follow Bandit’s story as he navigates through life and encounters other badgers in the wild.
Anal Pasting
In the trail camera footage, you can see that European Badgers (Meles Meles) lift their tail up to touch other badgers with their butts.
This behavior is called “anal pasting” or “scent marking,” and it’s a way for European badgers to communicate with each other. When a badger lifts its tail and presses its scent gland against another badger’s body, it leaves behind a unique scent that identifies the individual badger and conveys information about its social status, reproductive state, and territorial boundaries.
This helps to establish and maintain the social hierarchy within the badger community and helps to reduce conflict between individuals.
Additionally, the scent marking may help to deter potential predators or competitors from invading their territory.