At Inokashira Park Zoo, we keep three Japanese Badger in the small animal enclosure. Two of them, a male and a female born at the zoo, are currently living together with the aim of breeding. The third badger is a wild-caught female who was rescued due to injury and is the mother of the male mentioned above. She is being kept separately.

Here are some of the initiatives we undertook this summer to help the three badgers have a more comfortable experience.

Because badgers are nocturnal, they are often seen lying still during opening hours. However, in mid-June, a change was observed in the behavior of a wild-born female badger. During the time she used to lie down, she began digging up the soil in her enclosure. The dug-up soil entered the enclosure's pond, clouding the water and creating so many holes that zookeepers had to be careful not to trip.

Observing the wild-born females, it seems they dig more frequently on cool, cloudy days or after it rains. On the other hand, the two zoo-born lizards continued to spend most of their time lying down, so we tilled the soil in their enclosure with a shovel before releasing them. They did start defecating in the small holes they dug, but the two zoo-born lizards only dug in a smaller area than the wild-born females.


Badger's sharp claws are well-suited for digging holes.

[Video] A wild female badger actively digs a hole.
After the end of the rainy season, we've had a string of sunny and hot days. So, in the early afternoon when the temperature was rising, we tried giving the badgers "ice with horse meat inside." The two badgers, born in the zoo, licked and scratched at the ice with their claws, just as the zookeepers had expected, trying to get the horse meat inside. The female was more aggressive than the male. However, the wild-born female, perhaps wary of the unfamiliar food or unwilling to move from her cool spot, simply watched the ice with horse meat from a distance.


A zoo-born male licks ice containing horse meat.

[Video] What happens when you feed horse meat ice to a horse
On the other hand, we noticed areas that needed improvement, such as attracting crows to steal the ice containing horse meat, and the badgers dropping the ice into the enclosure's pond while moving it. So now we cut the ice containing the food into bite-sized pieces before giving it to them. This allows them to eat it quickly without attracting crows, and the frozen food (horse meat, apples, boiled sweet potatoes, bananas) helps cool the badgers from the inside out.


Frozen bananas and horse meat

[Video] Female badger born in a zoo eats a frozen banana
As their name suggests, badgers dig burrows, allowing them to comfortably survive the fluctuating temperatures of the season. We will continue to work on improving their living environment so that many visitors can see them in good health.

[Inokashira Park Zoo]

(August 21, 2021)