Badger They have black faces with distinctive white markings, grey bodies with a light-coloured stripe from head to tail, and dark legs with light-coloured underbellies. They grow to around in length including tail. The European badger is one of the largest; the American badger, the hog badger, and the honey badger are generally a little smaller and lighter. Stink badgers are smaller still, and ferret badgers smallest of all. They weigh around , with some Eurasian badgers around . The word "badger", originally applied to the European badger ("Meles meles"), comes from earlier "bageard" (16th century), presumably referring to the white
River Meles until recently. This stream was alternatively called "Kemer Brook" ("Kemer Çayı") or, especially in western sources, as the "Caravan Bridge Brook", by the name of a historic bridge, also celebrated in literature, which checked the entry into the city of İzmir throughout the 19th century. The flow of this stream varies from a full rush of water in winter to a trickle, even a dry bed, in summer. In the light of descriptions by Aristides and other accounts dating from the Roman imperial age, this stream seems, in fact, to be the weakest candidate for association with Homer's Meles. Roman-era