Badgers are skilled excavators, and digging is central to their existence. Their powerful forelimbs and long, strong claws allow them to efficiently move large quantities of soil and create extensive underground networks. This digging serves various essential biological and behavioral purposes.
The Purposes Behind Badger Digging
Badgers construct elaborate underground tunnel systems called setts, which serve as their primary homes, shelters, and nurseries for raising their young. These setts are often complex, featuring multiple entrances and interconnected tunnels that can extend for hundreds of meters and reach depths of 6 to 10 feet, with main chambers elevated to prevent flooding. Some setts have been continuously occupied by generations of badgers for over a century, indicating their permanence and importance to badger clans. Badgers spend approximately 70% of their lives within these underground dwellings, using them for sleeping, socializing, and refuge.
Badgers also dig to find food, creating shallower, temporary excavations. Their diet is diverse, but they primarily forage for earthworms, which are a staple food source in many regions. They also dig for insect larvae, such as beetles and chafer grubs, and may unearth small rodents, roots, or even wasp and bumblebee nests. These foraging holes are typically created by badgers using their snouts to probe the ground and then digging with their claws to access prey. They dig wherever food is detected, often leaving numerous small pits in lawns or fields.
Badgers also dig for hygiene and territorial marking, creating latrines. These are small, shallow pits used for defecation, and badgers are known for their clean habits, avoiding soiling their setts. Latrines are frequently found clustered together, sometimes in lines, and are strategically located at the boundaries of their territories to communicate with other badger groups. The droppings within these pits can vary in appearance depending on their diet but often have a sweet, musky odor, distinguishing them from other animal waste.
Identifying Badger Excavations
Recognizing badger excavations helps distinguish them from those made by other animals. Sett entrances are identifiable, appearing D-shaped or oval, with the flattened side at the bottom, reflecting the badger’s broad body. These entrances are often wider than they are tall, measuring around 25-30 cm across, and maintain a consistent diameter rather than narrowing quickly like some other burrows. Outside an active sett entrance, a substantial spoil heap of excavated soil is usually present, often containing larger rocks and stones that badgers have dragged out. A furrow or groove may also be visible in the spoil heap, indicating how badgers reverse out while kicking soil away with their hind legs.
Other Signs of Activity
The presence of bedding material near sett entrances is a strong indicator of badger activity. Badgers regularly collect dry grass, leaves, bracken, or straw and drag it into their setts to line their chambers. Occasionally, bundles of fresh bedding material may be seen outside the entrance, either newly collected or old material that has been aired out or discarded. These signs, along with fresh claw marks on nearby trees or logs, or distinctive kidney-shaped footprints with five toes, can confirm an active badger sett.
Foraging Holes and Latrine Pits
Foraging holes created by badgers appear differently from sett entrances. These are shallow, irregular scrapes or pits, often conical or “snuffle holes.” They typically range from 10-15 cm across and are distinct from rabbit scrapes, which tend to be smaller and have soil scratched out on only one side. Latrine pits are small, shallow depressions, typically about 15 cm across and deep. These pits often occur in groups or lines at territorial boundaries, containing droppings that vary in consistency and color, sometimes appearing black and slimy.