Ranging behaviour of European badgers (Meles meles) in relation to bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) infection

Using radio-telemetry and direct observation, we monitored the ranging and foraging behaviour, habitat use and sett use of eight same-sex pairs of badgers (Meles meles L.). Members of each pair were of the same age-class and were members of the same social group, but differed with respect to disease status: one member of each pair was shown by culture tests to be infected with bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis), while the other was uninfected. Tuberculous badgers had home ranges that were about 50% larger on average than those of uninfected badgers, and they ranged over a greater proportion of their own territory. In addition, the proportion of an individual's home range that extended into neighbouring territories was about four times larger in tuberculous than in uninfected badgers; and tuberculous badgers foraged, on average, 65% further away from their own main sett than did uninfected animals. The two classes of animals did not differ in patterns of habitat use or sett use. We conclude that the ranging behaviour of tuberculosis-infected badgers differs in important respects from that of uninfected animals and discuss the relevance of this to the problem of bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers.