Long-term patterns of occurrence and roadkill hotspots of the southwest Asian badger Meles canescens in Israel (1978–2024)

Long-term wildlife records can reveal patterns of occurrence and mortality, although variable reporting effort complicates interpretation. We analysed 47 years (1978–2024) of verified Southwest Asian badger (Meles canescens) records from Israel, treating the taxon geographically. We described temporal patterns in verified records and reported road mortality, and identified environmental, landscape and road-exposure correlates of recorded roadkill hotspots along a hyper-arid to Mediterranean gradient. Israel Nature and Parks Authority records were analysed using grid-based temporal models and road-accessible environmental models. Roadkill models used post-2008 records, road-accessible background points, road density and spatial block cross-validation. Among 5,153 verified records, road traffic accounted for 2,029 reports involving 2,406 individuals, peaking from April to July. Verified records varied nonlinearly over time; reported roadkill showed high interannual variation but strong spatial concentration. Hotspot suitability was greatest in human-modified, heterogeneous landscapes of central and northern Israel, associated with built-up cover, grassland patch density, cropland, shrub cover and contiguity, and road density. These results identify recorded roadkill hotspots—not population abundance or true collision probability—and support targeted mitigation, habitat connectivity and conservation of agro-scrub mosaics.