CALIFORNIA BADGER. Taxidea taxus neglecta Mearns

Field characters.—Up to twice size of domestic cat; body flat, depressed (pl. 24b and c); legs short; tail short, one-fourth head and body; feet large and claws stout and long. Head and body 20-1/2—24 inches (520-610 mm.), tail 5—6-3/4 inches (125-170 mm.), ear 1-1/2—2 inches (30-50 mm.); weight 9-1/2—17 pounds (4.3-7.7 kg.) [extralimital specimens included in these measurements]. General coloration yellowish brown, grizzled with white; feet and top of head black; a prominent streak of white from nose over middle of crown to between shoulders (pl. 24c); side of head white with a large patch of black on cheek. Voice: Low grunting and puffing noises.

Occurrence.—Resident in certain parts of the Yosemite region, irrespective of altitude. Recorded from Snelling, Lagrange, Pleasant Valley, Smith Creek (6 miles east of Coulterville), Vogelsang Lake, Tuolumne Meadows, Lyell Cañon, and near Williams Butte. Lives in open country; makes burrows in ground. Sometimes abroad in daytime. Usually solitary.

The California Badger is found at numerous localities in the Yosemite region, from the San Joaquin Valley on the west to Mono Valley on the east, and it ranges upward to an altitude of 10,350 feet. Yet it does not occur continuously over our Yosemite section as do several other wide-ranging species like the Gambel White-footed Mouse and Red-shafted Flicker. Its distribution is controlled by the presence or absence of flat clear areas of soil, rather than by temperature or any of the other factors which limit the ranges of most animals. Thus, on the uncultivated level lands of the San Joaquin Valley, the badger is, or was originally, common; in the foothill districts where there are but few meadows or other level open spaces, it is scarce or wanting; in the main forest belt it is altogether absent; while on the high meadows near the crest of the Sierras and on the floor of the Great Basin, east of the mountains, it is again to be found in numbers.

In settled portions of the San Joaquin Valley the badger has been reduced or exterminated by man, chiefly because the large holes (pl. 24a) which it digs in the ground are a menace to horsemen riding over the country. On the whole, however, the badger is a beneficial species, for its habitual food consists of rodents, like the ground squirrels and pocket gophers, most of which happen to be harmful to agriculture. In the high Sierras, where the relation between rodents and carnivores is still almost in its original condition, the badger is a relatively common animal. On Tuolumne Meadows in the summer of 1915 it was judged to be the most abundant carnivore present, with one exception, the Mountain Weasel.

The badger's whole being is organized for digging. The body, especially the trunk region is thickset and muscular (pl. 24b). The legs are stout and short so that they can get an effective purchase. Both pairs of feet are disproportionately large, as compared, for example, with those of a Sierra Marmot. The claws on all the feet are large, those of the forefeet being especially long and heavy.

In addition, the badger is curiously flattened horizontally in the general configuration of its head and body; this 'pancake' effect is emphasized by the greater length of the overhairs along the sides of the body. The ears are short (pl. 24c), the eyes rather small, and the head is joined directly onto the body, with no definite neck region.

When hunting, the badger specializes in a method rarely used by any of the other carnivores of the region. The other predators hunt chiefly by stealth; the badger uses its prodigious strength and special equipment for the purpose and digs its victims out of their retreats. Nature has provided the badger with some means for locating accurately the underground nests of pocket gophers, ground squirrels, and rabbits. Whether smell or hearing or both function in this, we do not know. But once an occupied burrow is located, the badger quickly digs out and feasts upon the luckless inhabitants.

During the summer of 1915, the work of the California Badger was much in evidence on Tuolumne Meadows and the floor of Lyell Cañon. The gophers had moved up to occupy the margins of the meadows, and the badgers had concentrated their activities in these areas, which had a maximum gopher population. Time after time we saw places where we inferred that gophers had been dug out. In the midst of an area showing new surface mounds and perhaps some winter earth-cores, there would be a hole 8 to 12 inches in diameter, with the torn remains of a gopher's nest at the bottom and signs of badger on the ground above. Three such excavations were noted by the junior author on one day in July, 1915, while traversing the floor of Lyell Cañon. Belding Ground Squirrels are probably captured to some extent by the badger in the mountains, as are California Ground Squirrels, in the lowlands.

On Tuolumne Meadows, July 11, 1915, a trap set in a locality where gophers and evidences of badger work were common caught a badger. The remarkable strength and energy of this individual, as an example of the species, were illustrated in a striking way. The animal had been caught by one hind foot. With its forefeet it had scraped up the earth within a circle of 3 to 4 feet diameter, the limit of its reach, and this earth had been accumulated in a flat-crowned mound. Its intention had been, presumably, to escape by digging, and it had stopped only when the accumulating earth had made further work impossible. On top of this mound the badger was squatting (pl. 24b).

On two occasions while our party was at Tuolumne Meadows, badgers were found at work during the afternoon. One animal was discovered digging in a hole in the ground. It was already below the surface, "kicking up the dirt at a lively rate," and when come upon, it quickly plugged the entrance so that further observation of it was impossible. The other animal was out on the surface of the ground near the border of a meadow. It ran quickly up a sidehill, and, in spite of its seeming clumsiness, outdid the observer in his attempt to follow. This badger also went into a hole, the opening of which it soon blocked with earth from within.

At Pleasant Valley Mr. J. B. Varain told us that he once opened a badger den on a neighboring hill and found at the bottom two young which were "nearly pure white." There was no nest of any sort.

Near the Farrington Ranch, southwest of Mono Lake, a half-grown badger was captured in late June, 1916 (pl. 24c). On one occasion it was let go free on the ground so that something of its habits might be observed. True to its kind it immediately commenced to dig, but continued only long enough to make a shallow excavation barely deep enough to hide in. A gopher or mole under similar circumstances would not only have tunneled out of sight, but would have kept on going. At any unusual noise the young badger would put his head out of the hole and look about. Its general behavior was like that of adult badgers seen elsewhere, but it displayed little or none of the combativeness which characterizes the full grown animals.