Badgers [1] , or badgers [1] ( lat. Melinae) is a subfamily of mammals from the carnivorous order ( Carnivora ). Contains six species in three genera, of which the best known is the common badger ( Meles meles ).
| Badgers |
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Badger ( Meles meles ) |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
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Melinae Linnaeus , 1758 |
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- Badger ( Meles )
- Teledu ( Arctonyx )
- Ferret Badgers ( Melogale )
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Representatives of the badger subfamily are distinguished by a compact, wedge-shaped physique. The head is small and pointed, with small eyes and ears. The paws are short and strong, the tail of everyone except the ferret badgers is short. The hair of most badgers is gray or black; many species have characteristic patterns on their faces. The body length varies between 32 and 90 cm, and the weight is from 1 to 16 kg.
The range of badgers is limited to Eurasia and, with the exception of the common badger, all species live in East and Southeast Asia . Their main habitat is forests.
Badgers are active mainly at night , and spend the day in burrows and other shelters dug by them themselves. They spend most of their time on the ground and only occasionally climb trees. They are good diggers.
Representatives of badgers are omnivores and their food includes both small vertebrates , insects and other animals, as well as various plants .
Reproduction, as in other martens , is based on the fact that the seed spends a long time in the body of the female, and months can elapse between mating and childbirth, although the pregnancy itself lasts from six to eight weeks. The number of cubs born at one time is from two to four. Life expectancy of representatives of the badger family can reach 15 years.
Names are given in accordance with AI [2]
- clan Teledo ( Arctonyx ), or pork badgers
- Teledu ( Arctonyx collaris ), or pork badger
- clan Badger ( Meles )
- Badger ( Meles meles )
- Asian Badger ( Meles amurensis )
- Japanese Badger ( Meles anakuma )
- genus Ferret badgers ( Melogale )
- Chinese Badger ( Melogale moschata )
- Burmese badger ( Melogale personata )
- Everett Badger ( Melogale everetti ), or Bornean Badger [3]
- Eastern Badger ( Melogale orientalis )
- Melogale cucphuongensis
- genus † Parataxidea
- † Parataxidea crassa
- † Parataxidea sinensis
- ↑ 1 2 Mammals. Big Encyclopedic Dictionary / scientific. ed. Pavlinov I. Ya. - M .: LLC "Publishing House ACT" LLC, 1999. - P. 19. - 416 p. - ISBN 5-237-03132-3
- ↑ Sokolov V.E. The pagan dictionary of animal names. Mammals Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / edited by Acad. V. E. Sokolova. - M .: Rus. lang., 1984. - S. 98-100. - 10,000 copies.
- ↑ Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia. "Mammals" Prince. 2 = The New Encyclopedia of Mammals / Ed. D. MacDonald . - M .: Omega, 2007 .-- S. 467. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-465-01346-8 .
- Wilson, DE, and DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4
