Post #14775

Badger: The only one who comes out of hibernation fat and well-fed, while other animals are exhausted For most animals, spring is pure suffering. The squirrels have depleted the supply of nuts, the hares are eating the last bark from the trees, and the wolves and foxes are eating the last hares. And even bears who have slept sweetly all winter come out of their dens weak, skinny and with matted fur. And only one badger will get hurt. He wakes up, stretches sweetly, scratches the remaining fat on his belly, and goes to the pantry of his luxurious mansion to check his food supplies! How does he manage to survive the winter so well? The answer is simple: it enters it half composed of fat. And this is not a joke! The weight of an adult large badger in October - right before hibernation - can reach 24 kilograms. Although back in June-July it was exactly twice as light! This ratio of fat to the mass of the rest of the body is more typical for seals and whales, rather than for land-dwellers. Therefore, it is not surprising that he can sleep peacefully all winter and even save some supplies for the first time. Naturally, in order to gain such mass, the stocky animal has to eat three times. Even in the summer months, when the badger is not in feeding mode, it consumes half a kilo of frogs, lizards, mice and plant food in one night trip. That's as if an adult man weighing 70 kilograms consumed 11.5 kilograms of food daily! In autumn, the badger's food consumption triples - up to 1.5 kilograms of biomass per day. A predator cannot provide himself with this amount of meat even theoretically, so fruits, berries, nuts and roots begin to predominate in his diet. Moreover, the badger collects more food than it can eat, and transfers excess vegetation to an underground pantry - as a reserve. Despite being constantly busy filling his stomach, the badger also finds time for a hobby - solving the housing problem. During the day, badgers often not only rest, but also expand their burrow. With the help of long, but wide and blunt claws, they dig new entrances, corridors and chambers. They also do decorating. All rooms and corridors of the badger house are covered with dry grass, soft and providing good warmth. But the badgers don’t know when to stop. If the hole is well located and the soil around it is stable, then the animals expand it generation after generation, over the course of centuries. And then a modest dwelling with one entrance turns into a multi-tiered structure with many nesting chambers, storage rooms and dozens of entrances. Its area can reach one hectare! Of course, such a settlement is too large for one badger, so it is inhabited by several animals at once, often not related. And not only them. Sometimes the empty parts of the settlement are inhabited by foxes and raccoon dogs. The badgers don't bother them. As long as they don't bother the badgers, of course. So, step by step, the badger creates for itself not just a cozy home