AnAge entry for Meles meles

Classification (HAGRID: 01842)

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Carnivora
                Family: Mustelidae
                    Genus: Meles
Species: Meles meles
Common name: European badger, or Old World badger

Maximum longevity: 18.6 years (captivity)
Source: ref. 671
Sample size: Medium
Data quality: Acceptable
Observations: The implantation can be delayed and extend the gestation time up to one year. One captive specimen lived 18.6 years [0671]. There are also anecdotal reports, which can be true, of one animal living 19.5 years in captivity [0554].

: No information is available on life history. Please contact us if you wish to suggest or contribute data.

[1143] Nussey et al. (2013), Senescence in natural populations of animals: widespread evidence and its implications for bio-gerontology (PubMed)
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3 (PubMed)
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0554] Badgers on the Web