Badgers have spent the winter months mostly underground. They don’t hibernate but do spend a lot of time asleep in their setts, emerging occasionally to forage but otherwise surviving on fat reserves laid down last autumn.
Their long winter snooze is now over, and badgers are busily spring cleaning their setts: digging out old soil and replacing dirty bedding with fresh grass, leaves and moss.
Sett maintenance is a constant chore but badgers pay particular attention to hygiene at this time of year as they prepare for new arrivals.
Females deliberately give birth in winter so that their cubs will emerge from the sett in spring, when the weather is mild and invertebrate food is plentiful.
This maximises the time they can spend eating, growing and putting on fat to survive the following winter.
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Esta historia es de la edición February 2019 de Sussex Life.
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