Badgers are stocky, short-legged mammals belonging to the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. While the term “badger” encompasses several species across different continents, their feeding habits classify them broadly as opportunistic omnivores. This means their diet is highly flexible and determined by local availability, though this classification masks significant differences in the primary food sources and hunting strategies employed by various badger species around the world.
The Staple Diet: Invertebrates and Small Prey
The diet of the European badger (Meles meles), the most widely studied species, relies heavily on invertebrates, with earthworms often forming the bulk of its intake. In regions with favorable soil conditions, earthworms can constitute up to 80% of the total diet by volume. A single adult badger can consume hundreds of earthworms in one night, particularly the common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris), which is rich in protein.
Badgers locate this prey using their highly developed sense of smell and harvest the worms from the soil surface on damp nights. The process of extracting an earthworm requires the badger to apply careful force, as the worm anchors itself into its burrow. This foraging method leaves characteristic shallow holes, or “snuffle holes,” in the ground.
Beyond earthworms, the European badger’s invertebrate diet includes a variety of insects, larvae, and grubs. They actively consume beetles, cranefly larvae, and the larvae of chafer beetles, often rooting through turf and rotting wood to find them. Badgers also raid the nests of wasps and bees to feed on the larvae, pupae, and honey stores, seemingly tolerating the stings.
The diet is supplemented with small vertebrates. Small mammals like mice, voles, and shrews are consistently consumed, but badgers may also take larger prey like young rabbits or hedgehogs when the opportunity arises. Their powerful forelimbs and long claws are utilized to dig out the nests or burrows of these smaller animals.
Seasonal Variation and Opportunistic Food Sources
Badgers are highly flexible in their feeding, shifting their diet as the availability of their staple foods changes throughout the year. During periods of drought, when earthworms retreat deeper into the soil, badgers must rely more on other food sources. This opportunistic strategy is especially apparent in the late summer and autumn months when plant matter becomes abundant.
Fruits and berries are a significant seasonal addition. Badgers will forage in orchards for windfall apples or consume nuts, seeds, and acorns when they fall from trees. In agricultural areas, they readily feed on cultivated crops like oats, wheat, and corn. Energy-rich items include:
- Blackberries
- Apples
- Pears
- Plums
The seasonal shift also involves an increase in other animal protein sources. When primary prey is scarce, badgers may turn to eggs and ground-nesting birds during the spring and summer breeding seasons. They are also scavengers, consuming carrion and injured animals they encounter, which provides a reliable, high-protein meal. This flexibility allows badgers to build up fat reserves, important in colder climates where they become less active during the winter.
Dietary Differences Between Major Badger Species
The term “badger” encompasses different species whose diets vary dramatically based on their geographical environment and evolutionary specialization. The European badger (Meles meles) maintains a largely omnivorous diet, relying on invertebrates and vegetation. While it consumes small mammals, its primary foraging behavior involves gleaning small, relatively immobile prey items, making it one of the least carnivorous animals within the order Carnivora.
The American badger (Taxidea taxus), however, is a highly carnivorous specialist, with meat making up the majority of its diet. This species is adapted to open grasslands and semi-arid regions where its primary food source is burrowing rodents like ground squirrels, pocket gophers, and prairie dogs. Its morphology is built for this purpose, featuring powerful forelimbs and long, specialized claws.
Its hunting technique is highly focused on excavation. The badger uses its keen sense of smell to locate a burrow and then rapidly digs to pursue its prey underground. They have been observed deliberately plugging other tunnel entrances to confine the prey before digging into the main nest. This fossorial predation strategy is so effective that American badgers have also been documented hunting cooperatively with coyotes, which catch rodents flushed out of the burrows.