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 on its banks. No fewer than six small streams flow into the Gulf of İzmir between the northeastern tip of its outlying waters, where old Smyrna was built, to the city's ancient hilltop castle commanding the inner Gulf's southern shores (Kadifekale today, Pagus and Mount Pagus in ancient times) on the slopes of which, according to tradition, Alexander the Great had the dream of refounding a new Smyrna. Among these, the stream which rises ten miles south of the castle and flows round the base of its mountain had acquired the name of Meles in modern times and kept it