THE LIFE OF MAAIMALS 
ance and habits, but is smaller, has different teeth, etc. When 
this country was first explored badgers were met with every- 
where in open lands from the Alleghanies to the Pacific, and 
as far north as Peace River. Wisconsin took its name, 
“Badger State,” after them. Now they have disappeared 
from the prairie states, and are rare except in the high, dry 
plains, where gophers and prairie dogs remain to support them. 
The badger is truly a “‘beast of the field,” — digging or stealing un- 
derground holes, and preying upon everything it can catch or conquer. 
American Its body is two feet long, extraordinarily low-hung and 
Badger. broad, and when it is curled up asleep, and its long fur is 
‘erect, it looks like a well-stuffed cushion. The legs are short and firm, and 
the large feet are furnished with long and very strong claws, making them 
powerful digging tools. The head is broad, massive, and doglike, with 
round, furry ears, a hairy muzzle, and jaws filled with formidable teeth, 
scarcely less terrible than those of the wolverine. ‘‘ The whole squat, com- 
pact, large-boned, massively skulled form indicates great muscular power; 
and it is controlled by a capable brain and an indomitable spirit... The 
‘loose fur is a ‘grizzle of blackish, with white, gray, or tawny,’ each hair 
‘having all these colors on some part of its length, and the whole blending 
“handsomely.” 
-The badger feeds upon whatever animal food he can kill or catch that is 
“not carrion — principally the ground squirrels, gophers, and field mice 
among which he lives. It is beyond his ability to chase and catch these 
nimble fellows, for the badger is slow and clumsy; but it “is the work of 
a very few minutes for this vigorous miner to so far enlarge their burrows 
that it can reach the deepest recesses.” His hunting is at night. 
The entrance to its own burrow is large, and the tunnel reaches below 
the frost line, and may be almost any length. The animal changes its 
abode frequently, and constantly digs more holes than it needs, thereby 
saving a good deal of labor for coyotes, foxes, ferrets, snakes, owls, etc., 
which take possession of its abandoned intrenchments. Godman tells us 
that three or four young are born in summer, and that the period of life 
may reach fifteen years. In the United States the animal is more or less 
active all winter, being able to search out or dig out enough sleeping ground 
squirrels, marmots, etc., in spite of the frost, to satisfy its needs if not its 
appetite. Farther north, however, the greater cold and enforced famine 
induce or compel it to pass in semitorpidity the more severe months. 
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