6th October: World Badger Day

Today is World Badger Day. Here are some facts you may not know about these animals:

Picture by BadgerHero

1. There are eleven species of badger. They belong to the family Mustelidae, which also includes Otters, polecats, weasels and wolverines.
2. The word badger is said to derive from the French ‘bêcheur’ meaning ‘digger’. Brock, an old nickname for badgers, is said to come from the Celtic word for "Grey". The Welsh word for badger is ‘moch daear’ which translates to ‘earth pig’.
3. A male badger is a boar, a female is a sow, and a young badger is a cub. A collective name suggested for a group of badgers is a cete.
4. A badger's home is called a sett. A family group of about six badgers typically live in each sett. Setts can be quite large with separate chambers for sleeping in and having their young in. The largest sett in Britain was found to extend over 15x35m and had 12 entrances. One thing a sett won't have is a "bathroom" area, because they go outside to do their business. They won't take food into the sett, either.
5. A quarter of the world's badger population lives in the UK - estimates suggest the UK badger population may be 250,000-400,000 individuals. They have been living in the UK for at least 250,000 years.
6. They eat mostly earthworms, insects, eggs, baby birds and small mammals such as mice and even Hedgehogs. They also eat roots and fruit and have been known to get drunk on rotting fruit.
7. They grow to around 90 centimetres (35 in) in length including their tails.
8. Badgers can run or gallop at 25–30 km/h (16–19 mph) for short periods of time.
9. The badger is the state animal of the US state of Wisconsin.
10. The badger is the emblem of the Hufflepuff house of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series, chosen because badgers are often underestimated, because they tend to be quiet, shy animals, until provoked, when it can fight off animals much larger than itself. Since they are tough enough to kill and eat the prickly hedgehog, it's definitely not wise to annoy one.

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The Freedom League's numbers have dwindled to three - but leader Unicorn knows his team isn't finished yet. The turning point comes with Russell, a boy with bright red hair and a genetic variant ability to start fires. He's the first of an influx of new members who will take the League into the future.

Judith and Wil are child prodigies - Judith in physics and electronics, and Wil in medicine. They have another thing in common - they are both genetic variants. And another thing - they both have fiery red hair. They are drawn to one another as their destinies intertwine, but the course of true love doesn't always run smoothly!

Richard is not a variant. He's an Olympic athlete who has picked up useful knowledge from his unusual friends to add to his own natural abilities. A chance encounter with a dying alien throws him into a Freedom League mission in which his skills are put to the ultimate test, along with theirs.

The Freedom League's arch-enemy, the super-villain Obsidian, wants his family fortune all to himself. One person stands in his way - his niece, Fiona. Fiona, devastated by a family tragedy and her failure to get in to her first choice university, is miserable and has few friends. When she realises her brother's death was no accident, and his killer is also after her, she fears it may be too late to gather allies around her and learn how to use her own genetic variant powers.

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