Some sources say the badger is a hibernator and some say they are not.  Like the bear, badgers go into a dormant time where their temperatures drop a little but no where near the amount that a true hibernator's will.  Their heart beat and breathing slows down, but still not as much as a true hibernator.  The badger will have awake times during the winter but not that many of them.  All of this means that the badger goes through torpor, or temporary hibernation.  Most badgers live in warm areas and don't go into torpor.
    Badgers are related to skunks, martens, and weasels.  They mostly live in Asia, Europe, and North America.  They like tropical forests, plains, woodlands, and mountains.  They can be found in prairie dog towns.
    Badgers are about 15-30 inches long and can weigh as much as 35 pounds.  They have brownish-gray fur and black legs.  They have a black and white striped face.  They are chubby and usually waddle when they walk.  They have a white stripe from their noses to their backs.  
    European badgers are friendlier and get along better with other badgers.  The North American kind travel around alone.  They will find a new burrow every night unless they are going to hibernate.  Once hibernation begins, the North American ones will stay in the same underground burrow every night.
    The European badgers work together in groups called 'clans'.  They build burrows with lots of tunnels and rooms called setts.  They make sounds to talk to each other.
    Both kinds of badgers make nests with grass at the ends of the tunnels.  Badgers mate in August or September and their babies are born between March and May.  The female will have between 2 and 5 babies that will be born blind.  After a few months, the babies will be able to leave home and go off on their own.
    Badgers are mostly nocturnal but some do go out in the daytime.  They are omnivorous and eat plants and animals.  They like mice, snakes, larvae, worms, and fruit.  They will dig up a lot of their food and have very sharp claws.  They are smart hunters, too.  Sometimes badgers will go into the burrow belonging to their prey.  They will wait until the prey comes back and then catch them.
    When fall comes, North American badgers begin to get even chubbier.  They eat more food so that they can go into torpor [sleep].  They begin to store food in their burrows so that when they wake up in the winter, they will have something to eat.  When winter comes, they will sleep for weeks at a time.  They will wake, eat, and go back to sleep again.  They do this until winter is over and they can come out again.

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