Question from Hayley Brown 27/5/99: How long have badgers been around for?
• Answer: Hi Hayley, thanks for the question – I’ll try to keep the answer short. The badger’s mammal (class Mammalia) ancestory goes back to around 280 million years ago, to the Permian era. From the mammals came the carnivores (order Carnivora), which occurred around 20 million years ago in the Pliocene era. From the carnivores came the mustelids (family Mustedilae), occurring around 2 million years ago in the Pleistocene era. Finally, from the mustelids came the species of badger (eg. meles meles) that we all know today. This final stage is thought to have occurred around half a million years ago. Other members of the badger’s family, who share the same ancestory, include the otter, marten, weasel, polecat, mink, wolverine and stoat. Hope this answers your question ok. Back to Index [60] Question from Seth 27/5/99: Last summer I worked in a vets for work experience, and one of the partners was performing what he described as an enema on a badger that had been run over. Why would he
