Badgers have a single litter of young each year in May or June. The young are cared for in a nest at the end of a protective subterranean burrow. In wintertime, badgers are said to hibernate, but they do not do so in the strict sense of the word. They may become inactive during periods of extreme cold, but they do not enter into the deep sleep, with reduced metabolic activities, that the woodchucks and ground squirrels do in Illinois.
In our State, the badger has few, if any, enemies, other than man. Man traps the badger, makes unusable some of its preferred habitat, poisons off the squirrels and woodchucks which are its preferred source of food, and runs it down on the highway. The fur of the badger nowadays has little or no value, but in former years it was in demand, and a badger hide, at inflated prices, would have been worth as much as ten dollars. Conservationists maintain that it is unwise not to give some protection to one of our most interesting mammals, a potentially valuable fur-bearer, and a foremost controller of rodent pests.
May the “diggings” of the badger, the next time you encounter them, thrill you with the thoughts of one of Illinois’ first and foremost engineers, a master excavator.
SCIENCE ADVENTURE PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL AGE YOUNG PEOPLE
by Milton D. Thompson, _Assistant Director_
There will be two identical programs each Saturday this fall, on four consecutive Saturdays from October 31 to November 21, one at 9:00 A.M. and the second at 10:30 A.M. in the auditorium of the Centennial Building. This double program is offered in response to the tremendous crowds with standing room only which we experienced last spring. We will have room for between 1200 and 1300 persons each Saturday. Parents and group leaders are invited to attend with their young people. We appreciate a few adults scattered through the audience.
Out-of-town groups making reservations in advance will have a block of seats reserved for them until five minutes before starting time. These Saturday morning programs and a visit to the Museum, Lincoln’s Home, Lincoln’s Tomb, and perhaps a trip out to New Salem make a wonderful weekend excursion for your club or class, and these interesting places are not nearly as crowded in the fall as in the spring.