With their short legs and squat bodies, badgers are well known for digging and burrowing.
Which only added to the shock when a group of north-east schoolchildren discovered they had captured video footage of a badger climbing six feet up a tree.
The P5 pupils at Banchory Primary School have been carrying out a project with the National Trust for Scotland north-east ranger service at Crathes Castle Gardens.
And after setting up remote cameras and peanut trails, they were staggered when reviewing the footage yesterday to see one badger exhibiting behaviour which has baffled both the children and badger experts alike.
Most fences built to keep badgers out are no more than four feet high, as they aren’t thought capable of climbing any higher.
Toni Watt, the countryside ranger at Crathes Castle who helped the kids with their project, was amazed to see that the footage uploaded on to its Facebook had been viewed by more than 13,000 people yesterday afternoon.
She said: “They’re quite big-bottomed creatures and not particularly agile, so you expect it to be more climbing over obstacles, rather than climbing six feet up a tree.
“To be able to capture it and see it was a special experience for all of us involved.
“The kids were just delighted when they saw it, it was a great way to top off their project.”
