3D topography and structure analysis of three badger setts from Western Switzerland

Abstract

Within the framework of urban planning and spate management, three badger setts had to be destroyed in Geneva, Switzerland. We took advantage of this situation to perform a systematic excavation of these burrows in order to study their three dimensional organisation. A surveyor’s office developed the 3D-models to help visualize these complexes. The number of entrances did not match the underground complexity of the setts, and for two of them all entrances were not linked to a unique tunnel network. The smallest sett, considering the amount of earth excavated by badgers, was about 3 decades old (5 m3 excavated, 94 m of tunnels) and the largest was about 5 decades old (13 m3 excavated, 300 m of tunnels). Several screen views are presented in the manuscript and a link is proposed to have access to the 3D-models.