Badgers: There's more to the cute-looking creatures than meets the eye

This week the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, announced his approval for a culling of badgers, in order to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

About 30,000 cattle die each year as a result of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), which as in humans is a respiratory and wasting disease, according the National Farmers' Union. Badgers and cattle can carry the disease for two years without showing any symptoms. "It is clear that badgers are a continued source of infection for cattle and could account for 40 per cent of cattle breakdowns in some areas," said Sir David.

His comments have outraged animal groups, who point to evidence that although a cull might be effective in one small area, it is likely to increase the rate of bTB on the borders of that area.

Although it is undisputed that there is cross-infection of TB between badgers and cattle, no one is quite sure how and why. "There is no scientific evidence to show how bTB passes between badgers and cattle, but it does happen," says Dr Richard Yarnell, chief executive of the Badger Trust. "It seems most likely that it comes from nose-to-nose contact." The solution, he says, is better cattle control – meaning that cattle with the infection are identified earlier and taken out of the herd. So why doesn't this happen?

"Better cattle control is expensive," adds Dr Yarnell. "Farmers don't want to take responsibility for it and pay for this disease and the Government doesn't want to pay for it either. That's why they're supporting the cull. But the irony is that culling is expensive too – during the trial it cost £1.425m per year for an area of 100km sq and they only saved £300,000 worth of cattle. Sir David King has got this totally wrong."

Setting it straight: the truth about badgers

There have been badgers in Britain for at least 250,000 years. The latest surveys show that there are between about 250,000 and 310,000 in the UK (living in about 80,000 family groups). They are most common in the South-west, rare in East Anglia and very rare in Scotland.

The marks or "badges" on badgers' foreheads are thought to be the inspiration for the name badger. Occasionally, white near-albino badgers are found.

The old English word for badger is brocc, pronounced "brock".

A male badger is called a boar, a female is a sow and a baby badger is a cub; the collective noun for badgers is a clan, colony or cete.

Famous literary badgers appear in The Wind in the Willows (below) and Fantastic Mr Fox. The symbol for the Hufflepuff house in Harry Potter is a badger; there are also badgers in The Tale of Mr Toad, The Once and Future King, The Animals of Farthing Wood, The Chronicles of Narnia and Brian Jacques' Redwall series of children's novels.

Badgers can mate all year round, thanks to a special reproductive trick where the implantation of the badger egg into the badger uterus is delayed. This is so that most cubs are born in February, so they have time to fatten up for winter.

Badgers tend to be aggressive and often get into fights with much larger animals. This meant that badgers were used for years in the blood sport of badger baiting, where badgers were pitted against small hunting dogs. The sport was made illegal under the Cruelty to Animals Act in 1835. In 1992, they became an officially protected species with the Protection of Badgers Act in 1992. From being pitted against terriers to becoming megastars: the badgers' love of a good scrap made them reality TV stars earlier this year on Springwatch, BBC2's popular nature programme (above). A group of badger cubs earned the nickname "the Asbo kids" because of their habit of turning on BBC camouflage equipment and ripping it to shreds.

Badgers rely heavily on their excellent sense of smell to find food. They have an omnivorous diet, eating mainly earthworms and slugs; they also eat small invertebrates, fruit, nuts, roots and crops. Their claws and strong forelimbs make them the only natural predator of hedgehogs.

Following the 1992 Act, it is an offence to damage or obstruct badger setts. One victim of this law is the village of Dargate in Kent, which has been stranded since a family of badgers decided to build a sett underneath the only road leading out of the village. No one was allowed to move the sett and residents were trapped. Eventually Natural England, the Government's wildlife advisory wing, installed "badger flaps" – a one-way gate to let the badgers out but not back in.

In the 1960s, badgers were gassed to prevent the spread of rabies, and until the 1980s gassing was used to cull badgers to prevent the spread of TB.

The badger's eyes are quite small, and its eyesight is not particularly good. Also, like many other animals, badgers cannot see anything in colour, only black and white. Although they cannot see details, they can make out shapes and movements.

Although a few badgers live alone, most live together in groups. A clan is usually made up of several adults and their cubs. A large clan may have 12-14 adults, plus cubs. Badgers are mostly nocturnal. In fact, badgers are a little unusual in having such a strong family group or clan which has control over their territory.

Shaving brushes are traditionally made out of badger hair. Because badgers in this country are protected, shaving-brush manufacturers source the hair for their brushes from badgers in China, where it is not endangered or protected.

Badgers usually walk, but they can run when they need to. They are also good at climbing, and they can swim.

Many badgers die in their first year of life. Those cubs who survive will go on to ages of between five and eight years old. Very few wild badgers live to be 15, though. Badgers in captivity live longer. The oldest badger on record was 19 years and six months old when she died.

Their homes are holes in the shape of a capital D with the flat side down, and are at least 20 centimetres wide. The best way to watch badgers is to join a badger group, through the National Federation of Badger Groups ( www.badger.org.uk)

The badger is the fastest-digging animal on earth, and the strongest for its size. In the States, a badger in the Midwest was observed digging through the asphalt surface of a car park. It took him less than two minutes to get underground

About 50,000 badgers are killed every year in road traffic accidents.