Who doesn’t like to have a companion at home? Pets are so much fun to have; they will make you happy and smile more. Irrespective of age, people love and enjoy keeping domestic pets at home.
Badges and beavers are popular examples of pets owned by children and teenagers. Taking care of them is such an enjoyable activity for children.
Key Takeaways
- Badgers are nocturnal carnivores that belong to the weasel family, while beavers are semi-aquatic rodents that build dams and lodges.
- Badgers are solitary animals that live in underground burrows, while beavers are social animals that live in family groups.
- Badgers are known for their digging and hunting skills, while beavers are known for their dam-building abilities.
Badgers vs Beavers
Badgers are carnivorous animals that belong to the family Mustelidae, and are known for their distinctive black and white striped faces. Beavers are herbivorous animals that belong to the family Castoridae, and are known for their large, flat tails and their ability to construct dams using branches and mud.
Badgers have short legs and fat, fleshy bodies. Their heads are elongated, and they have tiny ears. The black face has some patterns that make it easily identifiable.
They belong to the families of skunks, but fortunately, they do not carry a skunky odour with them. They live under the ground, and a few people build a clan for their badgers.
Beavers are covered by warm fur that is reddish-brown in color. They have thick yet not soft bodies. Since they swim around in the water, their skin is quite waterproof.
They can remain in the water for a maximum of fifteen minutes. Their body adaptations allow them to float both in cold and even extremely icy water.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Badgers | Beavers |
|---|---|---|
| Habitat | They live under the ground. | They live in habitats on the sides of a dam. |
| Speed | The run-up to a speed of 30 km/h. | They swim at a speed of 5 miles in an hour. |
| Lifespan | They have a lifespan of a maximum of ten years. | They have a lifespan that is double the times of the lifespan of badgers. |
| Birth | It gives birth to 2 or 3 cubs during a single pregnancy. | It gives birth to a minimum of 2 to 6 kittens during a delivery. |
| Grooming | Even as pets, they are not groomed. | As pets, their masters groom their fur. |
What are Badgers?
Badgers are mammals that have flat bodies with broad feet and long, sharp claws. The skin is covered with coarse hair that might be black, gold, white or brown.
It comes from the largest family of the Carnivora, Mustelidae. The size of the badger is up to 20 to a maximum of 34 inches. The tail is another 4 or 6 inches. They weigh anywhere from 4 to 18 kilograms.
Badgers have a variety of habitat preferences open grasslands, woods, quarries, cliffs, and hedgerows. They are found in the great plains of North America.
The United States and Canadian regions, including the mountainous parts of Mexico, are all the habitats of the badgers. Badgers are a nocturnal species. Their sharp claws and powerful limbs enable them to dig burrows underground and find and store food underground.
Badger’s habitat is called a sett. Badgers are hygienic creatures, and hence they have a separate chamber for excretion. These are social creatures and prefer to live in groups.
A bunch of badgers together are called cete or a clan. The sett can be as small as 20 meters to as large as 100 meters. This species is omnivores. They consume earthworms.
What are Beavers?
Beavers belong to the largest rodent species in the world. They are characterized by thick waterproof fur, flat webbed feet that help easily with swimming, and a scaly tail. They have strong and powerful jaw with hard teeth. They are industrious, hardworking, energetic, and busy.
There are two species of beaver, one being the American beaver and the other being the Eurasian beaver. Their teeth are large, allowing them to build trees and wood habitats.
They continue to grow throughout their lifespan. Their size is constantly increasing. Their ability to close their nostrils, ears and the transparent membrane in their eyes all make it easy to swim. To mask their territory, they secrete a musk-like liquid from their tail.
They need water to live. They live in wet areas and stay far away from dry and parched regions. A beaver’s habitat is called a lodge. These are dome-shaped places built with mud and grass. These lodges are found around water bides.
They spend their time eating and building. These are nocturnal creatures. They are also capable of building canals to bring water to their habitats. They create ponds and their own water bodies to live in.
Main Differences Between Badgers and Beavers
- Badgers live underground or in clans built by their masters, whereas beaver lives in places nearing dams.
- The badgers run at high speed, whereas beavers can remain in the water and swim for about 15 minutes.
- The life span of the badgers is half of the lifespan of beavers.
- Badgers can give birth to a maximum of 3 cubs in a single delivery, whereas beavers give birth to a maximum of 6 kittens.
- Badgers are not groomed, whereas beavers are groomed.
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-008-9053-4
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347296902031
Last Updated : 14 October, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
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