[Originally posted 28 November 2014] What is a badger? A simple question, but not such a simple answer, as the category of “badger” is actually quite a malleable and dynamic one. Historically, and across many cultures throughout the world, badgers have long been considered a smallish type of bear, dog, or pig, both biologically and ceremonially. While some of those cultural associations continue today, especially regarding badger-bear kinship, among biologists badgers are widely categorized as fossorial…