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Increasing frequency of bite wounds with increasing population density in
badgers
Journal
Animal Behaviour
-
Volume 67, Issue 4
,
April 2004,
Pages 745-751
Authors
D. W. Macdonald, B. J. Harmsen, P. J. Johnson and C. Newmanfrom the WildCRU, University of Oxford
Abstract
Badgers sometimes live in territorial, mixed-sex groups; the
adaptive significance of this is not understood, but members generally interact
amicably. None the less, badgers occasionally fight and inflict sometimes severe
wounds on one another. Based on 498 badger life histories, from first emergence
as a cub until death, documented during a 10-year trapping study at Wytham
Woods, Oxfordshire, the patterns and rates of bite wounding and
consequential scarring were examined. Male badgers received more wounds and more
severe wounds than did females. Wounding rates for both sexes increased
significantly with age, and there was evidence that heavier individuals received
most wounds. No seasonal pattern in wounding rates was apparent. During the
study, the badger population size increased three-fold and wounding rates,
particularly in males, showed a density-dependent increase. The rate of bite
wounding increased with group size, and this increase was more marked among
males than among females. Among males, but not females, the rate of bite
wounding also increased with the number of badgers living in adjoining
territories.
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