HKB
BADGERS.
The Badger is a silent, solitary, carnivorous creature, having his representative, in some form or other, in almost every part of the world; though nowhere either numerous in species or plentiful in individuals. In Europe he appears in two forms, the Glutton and common Badger*; in North America in three, viz., *Wolverene, American, and Mexican Badgers; and, indeed, we might say a fourth belongs to that continent, for the Racoon is as near being a badger, both in appearance and habits, as he is to being anything else. For convenience, therefore, let us class him in this group: he will certainly be more at home in it than among the bears--where most of the naturalists have placed him.
In South America we find another form of badger in the Coati mondi, of which there are several varieties; and there, too, the racoon appears of a species distinct from those of the north. Some writers class the coati with the civets, but the creature has far more of the habits and appearance of a badger than of a civet cat; and therefore, whatever the anatomists may say, we shall consider the coati a badger.
But a truer form of the badger than either of the above, exists in South America--extending over nearly the whole of that continent. This is the Grison, which, in appearance and habits, somewhat resembles the wolverene. It also is found in two or three varieties--according to the part of the country it inhabits. The Taira is another South American species of badger-like animal, though usually referred to the weasels.
In Africa, the badger appears in the Ratel, or honey badger, common from Senegal to the Cape. In Asia, in its northern zone, we have the European badger and Glutton; and in the south, the Indian badger; while in the Himalaya chain dwells another animal, closely allied to the badgers, called the Wha or Panda. In Java, we find still another species, the Nientek; and in the other large Asiatic islands there are several kinds of animals that approach very near to badgers in their forms and habits, but which are usually classed either with the weasels or civets.
We shall now give some details respecting the different animals of this family; among which the Glutton, in point of size, as well as for other reasons, deserves precedence.
The Glutton is the Rosomak of the Russians, in whose country he is chiefly found--along high northern latitudes, both in Europe and Asia. He is supposed to be identical with the wolverene of North America; and if this be so, his range extends all round the Arctic zone of the globe: since the wolverene is found throughout the whole extent of the Hudson's Bay territory. There are good reasons to believe, however, that the two species differ considerably from each other--just as the European badger does from his American cousins. It was the writer Olaus Magnus who gave such celebrity to this animal, by telling a very great "story" about the creature--which, at a time when people were little studied in natural history, was readily believed. Olaus's report was, that whenever the glutton killed an animal, he was in the habit of feeding on the carcass till his belly became swelled out and tight as a drum; that then he would pass between two trees growing close together--to press the swelling inwards and ease himself--after which he would return to the carcass, again fill himself, and then back again to the trees, and so on, till he had eaten every morsel of the dead animal, whatever might have been its size! All this, of course, was mere fable; but it is not without some foundation in fact: for the Rosomak is, in reality, one of the greatest gluttons among carnivorous animals. So, too, is his cousin, the wolverene of America; as the fur trappers have had sad reasons to know--whenever the creature has come upon a store of their provisions. The name of Glutton, therefore, though based upon Olaus Magnus's exaggeration, is not so inappropriate.