Distribution and occupancy of setts by badgers Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) were surveyed in Białowieża Primeval Forest (1450 km ), one of the best preserved temperate lowland forests in Europe, in 1946-1961 and 1979-1999. In the Belarussian part of BPF in 1946-1951, badger density was estimated as 0.33 setts and 1.27 individuals/10 km . After predator control in the late 1950s, the number of active setts decreased to 0.09/10 km2 in 1961. Since the 1970s, badger population has been recovering; in 1979-1999, it averaged 0.16 setts and 0.61 ind/10 km . In Lhe Polish part of BPF, where badgers were not hunted, the densities in 1996-1999 were estimated as 0.41 setts and 1.57 ind/10 kra . I n the whole BPF, badger main setts were spaced regularly, with the nearest neighbour distance between active setts varying from 2.2 to 13.3 km (mean = 5.3 km, SD = 2.1). Surveys of 21 main setts during 1979-1999 (totally 171 sett-years) revealed that badgers occupied the setts in 68.4% of cases, raccoon dogs Nyctereules procyonoides in 12.9%, and red foxes Vulpes vulpes in 7%. Joint utilisation of the same setts by badgers and raccoon dogs was recorded in 5.3% of cases. Reviewing the literature on badger densities in 35 localities in the Palaeartic region showed that badgers attained rather high densities on the British Isles (14.9 setts/10 km , range 1.1-45.5; and 93.8 ind/10 km , range 8.6-307.0) compared to continental Eurasia (1.7 setts/10 km2, range 0.4-6.5; and 6.3 ind/10 km2, range 1.6-15.2). The number of badgers inhabiting a sett increased with log density of setts. Densities of badger setts did not depend on latitude but were negatively correlated with forest cover (p = 0.22, p - 0.008). We proposed that the biological mechanism behind this relationship was the higher biomass and availability of earthworms in open pastures and grasslands than in forests.
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