A Happy Badger Year!

The badger at the moment sleeps in a pleasant back room in the den, or sett,  that it has built for itself, and doesn’t bother about neither hot nor cold weather at the beginning of the new year. We however will start monitoring its doings by and by, and introduce the year cycle of the badger.

 

We will try to set up a webcam with a view of the badger den and the springtime awakening of the badger; for this reconnaissance work is needed in winter with trail cameras. During thaws in winter the badger goes out to breathe fresh air and fresh tracks can then be found in front of the burrow.

 

In addition we plan to follow the doings of some badger families in other forests throughout the year by way of trail cameras. A surveillance of the state of the Estonian badger population will probably start for the first time this year.

 

It is very good that for the second year we have a common animal of the year with the Latvians: the badger. And as in the previous year a photo contest can be expected, organised in cooperation with our southerly neighbours. The joint attention on the badger allows us to share information about this little studied animal.

 

Hunters also take part in the Year of the Badger. The badger has always been a valued hunting prey through ages and the hunters know it well.  Valuable data come from the hunters from which researchers piece together more information about badgers.

 

Before the badger wakes up from its winter sleep we will also open a website for the Animal of the Year as a sub-page to Looduskalender, which will be one of the information channels for the Animal of the Year.

 

Spokesmen for the Year of the Badger will be zoologist Tiit Hunt and forester Vahur Sepp.