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The European badger (Meles meles), also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to Europe and West Asia and parts of Central Asia.It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List, as it has a wide range and a large, stable population size which is thought to be increasing in some regions.
European badger. Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea.Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by their ancestral relationships: Musteloidea contains several families, only two of which (the "weasel family" Mustelidae and the "skunk family ...
Six extant mustelid genera left-to-right, top-to-bottom: Martes, Meles, Lutra, Gulo, Mustela, and Mellivora Mustelidae is a family of mammals in the order Carnivora, which includes weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks, and wolverines, and many other extant and extinct genera.
From the early Middle Ages, the trade in furs was of great economic importance for northern and eastern European nations with large native populations of fur-bearing mustelids, and was a major economic impetus behind Russian expansion into Siberia and French and English expansion in North America.
Among those that do not are the three species of ermine, [* 1] the polecats, the ferret, and the European mink. [ 4 ] : 12 The American mink and the extinct sea mink were commonly included in this genus as Mustela vison and Mustela macrodon , respectively, but in 1999 they were moved to the genus Neovison . [ 5 ]
The genus Meles was erected by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1762 after Carl Linnaeus had described the Eurasian badger Meles meles in 1758. This animal had a very extensive range over most of temperate Europe and Asia and there has been much discussion as to whether it is a single or three distinct species.
Paraceras melis, the badger flea, is an external parasite of the European badger (Meles meles). It has also been found on the fox ( Vulpes vulpes ), the dog ( Canis familiaris ), the cat ( Felis catus ), the European polecat ( Mustela putorius ), the mole ( Talpa europaea ) and the fallow deer ( Dama dama ).
The ferret-badger's impact on humans is through the spread of rabies. This has been documented in Taiwan and China but lack of prior documentation and research on ferret-badgers has proven a roadblock. [8] [9] [10]