The European badger (Meles meles L.) has various variants of its social organization in the populations in different parts of its habitat. The paper provides information on the impact of the environmant on the structure of the family group of the European badger. The material was based on the data of our own observations conducted at ten model sites in 2011 - 2018. Model badger settlements on the territory of the Oka-Don Plain within the administrative borders of the Saratov region were studied.