Badgers and Foxes -Friends or Foes?

 

Photo: http://www.moorhen.me.uk/iodsubject/mammals_-_fox_01.htm

Sarah Gnik posted on The Wildlife In Shirley , Solihull:

"I was just reading the solhull updates post about the fox dad looking after its cubs as the fox mom got injured by a badger and has not been since since, just curious we have one alone badger ( there was 5 last year I have no idea where the rest have gone) that feeds with the foxes and cats and I have never once since a scuffle... whats every one else thoughts? on wildlife interacting peacefully or not so.... and is usual for a badger to be alone?"

So my best response was (as always) long winded:

"A few points from someone who has run the Fox Study since 1976. Most of the books on foxes and badgers will tell you thayt "They must cross paths but how they interact is unknown" they write this because they have NOT studied foxes. Today we have many photos as well as many hours of video footage of badgers and foxes, foxes and hedgehogs, hedgehogs and badgers and even foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and domestic cats eating together in the same small area.

As fox cubs grow they do scuffle with eaxch other to show who is "top dog". Badgers get -or can- a bit pushy when they have cubs to feed -they want as much of the food for themselves as they can get, Same with foxes, however, no single fox is going to take on a badger, What they tend to do is work in a pair -one distracting the badger while the other grabs food. Even two adult dog foxes are not likely to get the better of a badger. One thing I learnt is that around April/May each year regular foxes will vanish. They can return weeks, months or as in two cases a year or two years later. Why they do this we can guess but do not know.

Sadly, many thousands of adult and cubs are killed every year by cars -a couple months ago a pair of vixens killed together on the road. Badgers fair just as badly and on top of continued badger baiting, snaring, shooting and even poisoning (of a supposed protected species) many thousands die on the road (a rough figure back in 2000 was approx. 55,000 killed by cars across the UK. A single badger may just be trying a new garden or could be the survivorfrom a sett (again, we still know so little about mortality just that it is high. In many cases, with foxes, if a vixen is killed the dog fox or an "aunt" fox will take over looking after cubs.

Many wounds in foxes -bits of ear missing, bites around the face etc are typical of canid fighting/attack -which happens.

Surprisingly, I know of two badger setts (which must be large) where foxes live in one part and badgers in another. The only way you will be able to tell if a fox has scuffled with a fox is if you have it on camera but badger jaws would take a sizeable piece out of a fox. Badgers warning foxes from food I have heard a lot about when there are young to feed.

Never in all my time seen evidence of a fox fighting with a badger. But who knows!"