Dwarf Badgers

[tetrapod]

I can give you no more information, there is a paper being published and I will forward you a copy as soon as. Re: "is any land access to the mainland (I presume Ireland) during low tide?" no not as far as I know! The Islands off the west coast are very rocky (they have to be to survive the battering of the Atlantic) so I would presume the earthworm supply out there is minimal! hence the beach combing and the rabbit predation!

I wonder then how on earth the badgers ended up there in the first place. They are not exactly known for their sea-faring behaviour.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Dr Paddy Sleeman of the department of zoology ecology and plant science at University Cork and an authority on Irish mammals first told me of the Dwarf and white nosed baders! I got the photograph from a recent talk that he put online about animal disease. the dwarf badgers are an example of a population of badgers that do not have TB so are invaluable in the study of this disease and the relatiopnship between badgers and cattle. the picture was taken from slide 35 on this powerpoint! However if you are still not convinced there is a paper being drawn up on the badgers and I will be sure and post it here when it is published! http://understandingscience.ucc.ie/lectures/LL_Paddy_Sleeman_jumping_germs.pdf

Interesting you should bring up TB. I have always thought that badgers are just carriers and have been exposed to the disease by cattle (and not the other way round). To my mind TB is a cattle issue and not a wildlife issue. Still it is imperative and scientifically sound to investigate wildlife disease exposure.

To put it more plainly: Just media hyped and politically motivated opinions (sorry guys and girls) are not going to bring us any deeper understanding of TB in Britain. I see it as a failure on the part of veterinary authorities and cattle breeders to bring a disease in their cattle under control. Do no forget the role that keeping different cattle herds in close proximity to one another, lax quarantaine, no TB testing in cattle and proper transport regulations are all playing in spreading rather than containing TB in Britain.

 

[Chlidonias]

update (because of the Mutations thread), this is the paper that was published on the "dwarf" badgers: Sleeman, D.P., Davenport, J., Cussen, R.E. & Hammond, R.F. (2009). The small-bodied Badgers (Meles meles (L.) of Rutland Island, Co. Donegal. Irish Naturalists' Journal 30, 1-6.

 

[DavidBrown]

This is cool. I have not heard of the dwarf badgers until now. In the California Channel Islands we have dwarf grey foxes and spotted skunks. There were dwarf mammoths too until 10,000 years ago: http://www.nps.gov/chis/historyculture/pygmymammoth.htm.

 

[Chlidonias]

update (because of the Mutations thread), this is the paper that was published on the "dwarf" badgers: Sleeman, D.P., Davenport, J., Cussen, R.E. & Hammond, R.F. (2009). The small-bodied Badgers (Meles meles (L.) of Rutland Island, Co. Donegal. Irish Naturalists' Journal 30, 1-6.

the papers in the Irish Naturalists Journal are available online but only if one is a member, so I haven't read it. There don't appear to be any other versions of it available to read.

 

[Vulpes]

I have not been able to find a copy of the paper either!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

In my experience, if you directly email the authors of a scientific paper a polite request they are often quite happy to send you back a PDF - after all, many scientists want their research to be better-known, and not restricted to a tiny exclusive clique!

Worth a shot in this case, at any rate.

 

[Pertinax]

I have not been able to find a copy of the paper either!

As you have the local connections I'm hoping you can obtain it and perhaps upload it (with permission) for the rest of us 'dwarf badger fans' to read. It promises the fullest explanation of this phenomenon likely to become available .