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AnAge entry for Meles meles

Classification (HAGRID: 02538)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Carnivora
                Family: Mustelidae
                    Genus: Meles
SpeciesMeles meles
Common nameOld World badger

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity18.6 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizemedium
Data qualityacceptable
Observations

The implantation can be delayed and extend the gestation time up to one year. One captive specimen lived 18.6 years [0671]. There are also anecdotal reports, which can be true, of one animal living 19.5 years in captivity [0554].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity365 days
Male sexual maturity365 days
Gestation49 days
Weaning90 days
Litter size3 (viviparous)
Litters per year1
Inter-litter interval365 days
Weight at birth80 g
Weight at weaning
Adult weight13,000 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0196 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual89 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature310ºK or 37.0ºC or 98.6ºF
Basal metabolic rate16.6470 W
Body mass11050.0 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.001507 W/g

References
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0554] Badgers on the Web

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 621922
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
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