Natural History

Cream-colored American badger

May 27, 2013 by SWestfall3

Interesting little color phase:

Source for image.   

It looks to me that it’s one of those erythristic mutations that makes it unable to produce black pigment.

Posted in Carnivorans | Tagged American badger, erythristic badger | 8 Comments

8 Responses

1. on May 27, 2013 at 11:06 am judie lewellenj

   Since my dog was a standard dachshund “the real doxie not those awful chihuahua crosses) (when I was eight) badgers were always of interest to me. Never so this blonde edition in MN or Wisconsin. New to me. Thanks for the update!.

   
   
2. on May 27, 2013 at 3:04 pm Peggy Richter

   Color variations among mammals seems pretty common. I’ve seen a few color morphs in birds and reptiles, but is it as common among them as it is in mammals? These sort of things keep popping up from time to time both in wild and domestic — while mostly, such morphs are at a disadvantage in the wild, one does wonder why more variations on the theme don’t occur. For example, why not spotted zebras? why not striped antelope? (and why are elephants grey as opposed to beige? it would seem that from a survival standpoint, a lot more variation would be functional, but one only seems to find the “lighter/darker” variations such as the badger above or black leopards (why not striped leopards?).
   The original must be random chance, but one does wonder why no such thing as spotted tigers while there are whites, etc.

   
   
   • on May 28, 2013 at 4:29 am Dave

     Colour morphs in reptiles are more likely to survive because of how cryptic they are.That is why is there is so many available in the pet-trade since most of them originate from captured stock.

     
     
3. on May 28, 2013 at 5:20 am chervilmeadow

   As those of us who have gone through phases of keeping and breeding them will recall, this particular colour mutation is commonly selected for in pet livestock: syrian hamsters, zebra finches, for example. Occurring sometimes in both light and dark shades the effect is sometimes called ‘cinammon’, you may remember.

   
   
4. on May 28, 2013 at 9:51 am Peggy Richter

   I would presume that color morphs in wild mammals would also survive because of how functional the color morph was. However, I can find no particular reason why a leopard is spotted and a tiger is striped as opposed to striped leopards and spotted tigers. Orange apparently comes out as blending in with vegetation in “color blind” tests, but white tigers DID apparently occur in the wild (the % is debatable; game hunters targeted them, so it’s hard to be sure if they were a significant minority or not prior to conservation). Elephants do dwell in varied environments, yet they show no color variations of any significance. I don’t know why a crocodile couldn’t be speckled or colored the same as some fish, but other than white, I haven’t heard of particular morphs. My query is that the morphs in the wild seem to be the same type – recessive lighter or darker colors (but NOT as much different patterns) but it’s not clear if the same % of morphs occur in the various species.

   
   
   • on May 28, 2013 at 6:25 pm Jana

     I don’t know about other species, but I have seen some skunks with unusual markings. One almost entirely black with a white spot on its head and white tip on the tail, one with a very broad white back, and another with “dotted line” markings. This is all in one neighborhood, so they’re likely closely related. Skunks in the pet trade are often colored very similar to that badger.

     
     
     • on May 28, 2013 at 8:18 pm retrieverman

       Skunks aren’t that closely related to true badgers, which are mustelids (weasel family). Skunks and two species of weird animal called “stink badgers” are in a new family called Mephitidae.

       
       
5. on May 29, 2013 at 6:10 am Jennifer

   Not sure it’s random. Some guesses. Leopards sleep in trees and are bullied, if not hunted, by lions. Spots are camafloge for shade cast by foliage up in the canopy. Tigers don’t regularly leave the ground, and need camafloge mainly to be less visible to their prey. Stripes are good for hiding in undergrowth.
   I suspect the dark/light morphing caused by the production (or not) of melanin is a system that allows nocturnal animals to adapt to diurnal lifestyles in response to changes in niche space…or to have both nocturnal and diurnal populations.
   It’s interesting that pigs show as wide range of markings as do dogs. Seems to say something about domestication.

   
   

Comments are closed.