The badgers that like to sett out...

Badgers are more sociable than often thought, according to research by Oxford University, meaning there could be implications for understanding how they might transmit diseases such as bovine tuberculosis.

Studies into their behaviour had originally fuelled suggestions that badgers were territorial and antisocial, living in exclusive, tight-knit family groups. This led to the belief that the species would rarely travel beyond their social group boundaries, with some culling and vaccination programmes relying on the perception they would remain divided into discrete units.

Using security tracking technology, the research published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution has revealed badgers in fact at least tolerate neighbouring setts, and may travel beyond the notional territory boundaries previously set out. Samantha Herbert