The black-and-white striped nocturnal mammal that lives in setts and digs is the badger. Its powerful forelimbs, long claws, and compact body make it exceptionally well suited to excavating burrows and searching underground for food.
“Sett” is the traditional name for a badger’s burrow system. A sett may contain multiple entrances, tunnels, chambers, and bedding areas, and some are used by generations of badgers. Badgers are omnivores, eating earthworms, insects, small mammals, eggs, fruit, and roots.
The familiar striped face is especially associated with the European badger, whose scientific name is Meles meles. Other badgers vary considerably in appearance, so not every species has the same bold black-and-white pattern. This is also why a badger should not be confused with a skunk: both may be black and white, but skunks spray as their main defense and do not construct the same extensive sett systems.
Badgers are mainly nocturnal and spend much of the night foraging. Their digging can aerate soil and disturb it in ways that benefit other animals, making them important engineers of their habitats.