Nocturnal animals are animals that prefer to come out during the night. Some nocturnal animals can be seen during the day, others spend the whole day resting or sleeping.

The female badger is called a 'sow' and the male is a 'boar'.

What do badgers eat?
Badgers like all sorts of food including earthworms, nuts, berries, frogs and even young rabbits.

What noise do badgers make?
Badgers make several different noises including snorts, growls and screams.

Badgers in gardens
Badgers mainly live in the countryside but sometimes they visit people’s gardens looking for food.

Where do badgers live?
Badgers live in 'setts' which are a series of underground chambers and tunnels. Some setts are hundreds of years old.

There are 17 types of bat in the UK.
Ever heard the saying 'blind as a bat'? Well, it's just an old wives' tale! In low light, bats can see even better than humans.

Big ears!
Long-eared bats' ears are three-quarters the length of their head and body. Just imagine if you had ears of that proportion!

Name game
Horseshoe bats get their name because of the flap of horseshoe-shaped flesh around their nose.

Lightweights!
The pipistrelle bat is the smallest. Put 11 paperclips in the palm of your hand. That's about the same weight as a pipistrelle bat!

Did you know?
A bat's squeak is very high-pitched and the older you get the more difficult it is to hear.
Listen carefully - can YOU hear it?

Under protection
Bats are protected by law, so you could be fined or even end up in prison if you disturb them. And because they return to the same places every year, a bat roost is protected even when the bats aren't home!

Home to roost
The place where bats sleep is called a roost.
Bats hang upside down when they sleep because that's the only way their muscles will support them.

The male fox is called a 'dog' or 'tod'. It hunts alone rather than in packs, hence the saying 'on one's tod', meaning going alone.

What do foxes eat?
In the wild, foxes eat worms, beetles, rabbits, chickens and snails. They don't like to waste food and will save leftovers for later by burying them.

Can foxes live in cities?
Lots of foxes now live in towns and cities and will eat any food left over that they can find in bins or compost heaps.

Could I see a fox in my Garden?
Foxes are nocturnal animals which means they come out at night. That's why the best time to look out for a fox is at dawn or dusk.

What sound do foxes make?
Foxes communicate using lots of different sounds including barks and eerie screams.

Where do foxes live?
Foxes live in underground burrows called
'earths'.

Did you know a baby hedgehog is called a
'hoglet'?

Making a splash!
Hedgehogs are good swimmers.
They're expert climbers too and have been known to climb over garden walls.

Awesome armour
Hedgehogs have about 5,000 spikes on their backs which they use to protect themselves from predators.

What do hedgehogs eat?
Slugs, snails, caterpillars, beetles, earthworms, birds' eggs and sometimes frogs . Hedgehogs can be very noisy eaters - they grunt as they munch!

Where do hedgehogs live?
A hedgehog spends the day sleeping in hedgerows or under shrubs.

Winter home
A hedgehog hibernates from November until March.
A hedgehog's hibernation nest is called a
hibernacular.

Turning heads
Owls have amazing hearing and can see well in the dark. They can't move their eyes but make up for it by being able to swivel their heads almost right round.

Where do owls live?
They nest in farm buildings as well as churches, sheds and natural holes in trees.

What do owls eat?
Insects, shrews, mice, voles, rats, small birds and frogs.

What does an owl sound like?
Some owls do not hoot, instead they make a long, eerie screech. They also hiss, snore and yap.