Thursday, 16 April 2020

Badger twins

Wow.  Earlier than I had expected, the first sight of new cubs.  The camera has been in place for weeks and this is their first time above ground.  Mother came out first to make sure the coast was clear before the two cubs followed her.  One retreated to the sett after a couple of minutes but the other one was keen to explore until it was shepherded back inside.  The cubs are very noisy and very unsteady on their feet.







I think this is the most exciting sequence I have had yet on my trail cameras.  I have made a short montage of highlights which you can watch here.  Be sure to have the sound on.  The mother's vocalisation is known as churring and the cubs' as chittering.

I have also uploaded the whole episode which is almost ten minutes long.  The camera records only 20s at a time at night so there a few slightly jerky joins but overall it did amazingly well.

This film was made from 29 consecutive short clips joined together.  It took longer to upload (>3h) on my "superfast" broadband than it did to make.  The camera is still in place so I hope to have more pictures of the cubs to share soon.

4 comments:

  1. It is very easy to see why you were excited, Chris! Wow - absolutely stunning footage. The cubs unsteadiness is surprising to me! And the fact that mum seems to spend quite a lot of time trying to sit on the cubs! Astonishing amount of time in grooming. And cub trying to climb on mum's back is hilarious! Delightful, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the reason they are unsteady Phil is that this was the first time they have walked more than a metre or two. They are probably only 8 weeks old and are just learning to walk. I love the way the cub keeps falling over, just like a human baby.
      The usual badger litter is 2-5 cubs. As one was bold and one was shy I wonder if there might have been another even more reluctant to come out. I hope to see on future recordings.
      They won't be weaned until 12 weeks - as badgers don't bring food back to the sett they will need to be able to follow mother on foraging trips before they can manage without milk. The current dry weather won't suit them as a lot of their food is normally earthworms.

      Delete
  2. Brilliant, what great footage :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fantastic Chris - well done. Really informative - as well as being entertaining!

    ReplyDelete