Bucky meets Badgers

It was a long time ago, but I remember Madison's Henry Vilas Zoo with a relatively small enclosure for the state's namesake, the American Badger.

The pen was cast aside during the ensuing years, now replaced by the latest development at the zoo, the Wisconsin Heritage exhibit.

The exhibit features a larger than life Bucky Badger sitting on a park bench ready for a two person selfie.

A smaller Bucky, along with Dekker and Kaminsky (two recent Badger basketball players now in the NBA) reside in a nice indoor/outdoor home.

Badgers don't hibernate so much, but do get very sluggish when temperatures fall below freezing with virtual inactivity lasting as long as 29 hours.

Could be either Bucky, Dekker, or
Kaminsky.  dwm pic

I'm not sure which fierce Badger is in the photo, and he wouldn't answer my questions.

A handy piece of cardboard was supposed to act as a postcard, however, it turns out Badgers (the four-legged ones, anyway) can't read.

If you aren't aware of how Wisconsin became known as the Badger state and the University mascot a Badger as well... it has little to do with this member of the weasel family.

Early settlers in what became southwest Wisconsin came to dig lead out of the hills, and created make-shift holes as their temporary homes.  People who saw the dirty men compared them to Badgers.

Wisconsin is home to the honest to goodness American Badgers.  I will never forget seeing one near the edge of a country road north of where we lived in Augusta.

Now it's a lot easier to see a real Bucky, at the zoo.