05-07-2025
Nature Trail: Is the Badger native to Ireland?
While it is a simple question, there is no simple answer. The jury is still out, and debate continues about the origin of one of our most common wild animals.
A native animal is defined as a species that originated naturally in a particular place. The situation in Ireland is made more complex by the last ice age. Some authorities believe that ice sheets swept across the entire island wiping out all, or nearly all, traces of wildlife and that plants and animals quickly colonised the empty land when the ice finally melted.
Native animals like the Irish Hare arrived here under their own steam once the ice melted and a flush of green vegetation spread across the barren soils basking in a warming climate.
It is believed that all of the ice had melted by about 12,000 years ago. Evidence shows that while the Irish Hare was resident in Ireland at that time, there is no evidence of Badgers. The earliest record of Badgers in Ireland dates from about 6,000 years ago when Early Neolithic farmers started cultivating the land.
So, could the Badger be native like the Irish Hare and its presence have gone undetected for 6,000 years, or did Early Neolithic farmers introduce it?
Early Neolithic farmers had a distinct genetic signature that can be traced back to the Near East. They spread across Europe introducing farming skills, and it is believed that they probably colonised Ireland from Scotland. But, if they did introduce Badgers to Ireland, why would they bring these wild animals with them?
Badger meat is edible and while it is not a common food source today it was eaten in the past in many countries. The flesh is coarse-grained and dark, but it is reported to be good to eat and to have a flavour like that of venison.
So, Irish Badgers may have come from Scotland. However, the water is muddied by DNA evidence suggesting that Irish Badgers are more closely related to Spanish and Scandinavian populations than to British.
The debate continues with the weight of evidence favouring the possibility of the species having been introduced rather than having arrived under its own steam. And, if the Badger was introduced, it appears that there may have been a number of introductions rather than just a single event. Research continues on several fronts to answer the original question.
