E. Revilla et F. Palomares, Changes in the behaviour of a male Eurasian badger: evidence in favour of the anti-kleptogamy hypothesis?, ACT THERIOL, 44(4), 1999, pp. 471-476
We report a case of male badger Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) territorial ex
pansion after the removal, by poaching activity, of a neighbouring male in
an area of low badger density. The most plausible reason for the behaviour
of this male is the gaining of the access to the females of the adjacent te
rritory because: the male spent approximately half of his active time insid
e the new area, made a similar effort as the previous male in sleeping toge
ther with the new breeding female and did not use the summer-autumn feeding
areas of the taken range. While considering that data have come from only
one animal, it is discussed the key importance of female access against foo
d resources and shelter when explaining male badger spatial behaviour, at l
east in low density populations.