How do badgers protect themselves?

The badger protects itself with use of its sharp teeth, powerful jaws and strong claws as weapons and can inflict serious bite wounds. The badger hisses, and produces an unpleasant, musky odor from its anal glands. Its thick hair and tough, loose skin provides protection, and it can run backwards as fast as forwards. The badger can shift large amounts of earth in a short period of time in situations where it is caught out in the open and has nowhere to hide - the badger will then dig, and can vanish underground in about a minute.