Badger

North American badgers are solitary, semifossorial mustelids present throughout central and western North America. Adaptations, both morphologically and behaviorally, allow badgers to excavate soil rapidly and efficiently. North American badgers have extremely acute auditory and olfactory senses, capable of hearing and smelling through considerable soil depths (Minta and Marsh 1988). Consequently, they are effective predators of ground squirrels, pocket gophers, burrowing owls, kangaroo rats, voles, and various mouse species (Eldridge 2004). As opportunistic carnivores, badgers forage on a range of vertebrates and invertebrates, including insectivores, lagomorphs, reptiles, amphibians, birds, eggs, and arthropods (Minta and Marsh 1988). While foraging for burrowing prey, badgers excavate large volumes of topsoil and produce large pits and distinctive fan-shaped mounds at burrow entrances.
Regardless of prey density, badgers typically predate during times of prey vulnerability, specifically hibernating individuals and immobile young (Michener 2000). Studies indicating the presence of caching by badgers describe some astonishing behaviors. Ground squirrel carcasses were always cached individually, regardless of numbers of captures during the same night, and only one carcass was retrieved per night, regardless of the number of available carcasses. Badgers always retrieved carcasses sequentially relative to time since caching, despite other cachings of larger animals that were more valuable relative to energy content. Additionally, badgers cached carcasses in a curled head-to-tail conformation, reminiscent of sleeping or hibernating ground squirrels, although the tightly folded posture is not one adopted naturally by carcasses (Michener 2000). As badgers are opportunistic foragers, they likewise demonstrate behavioral flexibility when hunting, supplementing the customary technique of excavation with plugging of burrow entrances, ambushing, and hunting associations

with coyotes. Knowledge of interspecific relationships between coyotes and badgers occur throughout history. “In the tales of the Navajo, coyote and badger go around with each other, hunting together and calling each other cousin.” Moreover, “the coyote would go in front of the badger, lay its head on the latter’s neck, lick it, jump into the air, and give other expressions of unmistakable joy.” Nonetheless, the majority of interactions between these two species appear neutral or mutually favorable and antagonistic behavior between coyotes and badgers also occurs. Coyote badger associations should be considered accidental and nonobligatory, rather than a form of social symbiosis (Kiliaan et al. 1991).
Example of a maternal female badger hunting a black-tailed prairie dog via excavation:

At 12:12, a female badger was observed slowly emerging from her den. She then walked westward sniffing burrows. She oriented herself toward a tonically calling prairie dog and sprinted to its location. The prairie dog entered the burrow. The badger sniffed the burrow and then began a frenzied bout of digging at 12:14. During excavation, a burrowing owl attacked the badger, diving and striking her on the back 3 times before retreating to a burrow located near the western periphery of the prairie dog colony. Periodically, the badger emerged, shook, perhaps to dislodge soil from her fur, and looked toward her den. The badger stopped digging at 12:51 and assumed a sprawled out position, presumably to rest. About 2 minutes later, the badger continued to excavate the burrow. At 13:20, the badger emerged, carrying an adult prairie dog” (Eads and Biggins 2008).

Quick Facts

Common Name North American badger

Scientific Name Taxidea taxus

Order Carnivora

Family Mustelidae

Size L 26-35”, TL 3.9-6.9”

Weight 13-30.9 lb

Breeding July-Aug

Gestation badgers exhibit delayed implantation, which involves a period of arrested development of the blastocyst before it implants in the endometrium (the wall of the uterus), this delay lasts until Jan or Feb, after which development is completed with birth in Mar or Apr

Litter Size 1-4; young depend on females for approximately 1 y, which includes an extended period of delayed implantation

Habitat typically treeless habitats, local distribution depends on the occurrence of fossorial prey; dens or burrows play a central role in the ecology and foraging strategy of badgers and may therefore avoid extremely rocky soils or soils that otherwise prevent digging

Diet badgers are efficient predators of fossorial and semifossorial prey; however, badgers are opportunistic feeders and supplement their diet with a wide variety of mammals, birds, eggs, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and even plant material

Literature Cited
Eads, D. A., and D. E. Biggins. 2008. Aboveground predation by an American badger (Taxidea taxus) on black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). Western North American Naturalist 68: 396-401.

Eldridge, D. J. 2004. Mounds of the American badger: significant features of North American shrub steppe ecosystems. Journal of Mammalogy 85: 1060-1067.

Kiliaan, H. P. L., C. Mamo, and P. C. Paquet. 1991. A coyote, Canis latrans, and badger, Taxidea taxus, interaction near Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta. Canadian Field Naturalist 105:122-123.

Michener, G. R. 2000. Caching of Richardson’s ground squirrels by North American badgers. Journal of Mammalogy 81: 1106-1117.

Minta, S. C., and R. E. Marsh. 1988. Badgers as occasional pests in agriculture. Proceedings of the 13^th Vertebrate Pest Conference, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.