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Good heavens! Is it National Badger Day *already*?

nationalbadgerday

Well, lookit that. Tuesday, October 6 is National Badger Day (which I’m pretty sure is a totally made up fundraising holiday invented by the National Badger Trust).

In honor of this most artificial of celebrations, here are ten badger facts I totally lifted verbatim from today’s Express:

1. The earliest recorded use of the word “badger” for the animal was in 1523. Before that, it was called a “brock” or “bauson”.

2. “Badger” was originally (around 1500) a word for an itinerant trader.

3. The animal was probably called a “badger” from the badge-like white mark on its forehead.

4. Another theory it that is comes from the French word “bêcheur” meaning a digger.

5. Badgers feed mainly on earthworms of which they may eat hundreds every night.

6. According to an old belief, when a badger bites, it will not loosen its grip until its teeth meet.

7. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, the young are cubs and their system of underground burrows is a sett.

8. Interfering with a badger sett is an offence under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. So is obstructing access to any entrance of a sett.

9. The honey badger, or ratel, is considered by many to be the world’s most ferocious and fearless animal.

10. The word “badger” does not appear in any Shakespeare play but Twelfth Night mentions “brock” once.

Must find out who does badger PR. Weasels could use a bit of that.

October 6, 2015 — 7:10 pm
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