Badgers are adaptable, omnivorous mammals found across various habitats. They exhibit a flexible feeding strategy, consuming a wide array of items. Their diet can shift based on seasonal availability and local conditions. This article explores the natural diet of badgers in the wild, detailing their primary food sources and how they acquire them.
The Core Diet: Earthworms
Earthworms represent a significant portion of a badger’s diet, particularly for the European badger (Meles meles). For many populations, earthworms can constitute up to 80% of their food intake. A single adult badger can consume hundreds of earthworms in one night, especially during warm, damp conditions that bring worms closer to the surface. This protein-rich food source is especially important for cubs and helps badgers build fat reserves for winter.
Badgers display a learned skill in extracting earthworms, which often anchor themselves in their burrows. Earthworms are the predominant food for European badgers. Their reliance on worms is so pronounced that some badgers have been found with stomachs containing virtually nothing but earthworms.
Beyond Worms: Diverse Food Sources
Beyond earthworms, badgers consume a wide variety of other foods. Insects form a substantial part of their diet, including beetles, grubs, slugs, and snails. Badgers also target the nests of wasps and bees, consuming larvae, pupae, honey, and honeycomb.
Plant matter is regularly incorporated into their diet, especially when other food sources are less abundant. This includes a range of fruits such as berries (like elderberries, apples, pears, and plums), nuts, roots, and bulbs. Badgers may also feed on cultivated crops like oats and wheat.
Small vertebrates supplement their diet, with badgers preying on mice, voles, young rabbits, and moles. Ground-nesting birds and their eggs are also taken when encountered. Badgers are known to occasionally prey on hedgehogs, particularly if other food options are scarce. Additionally, badgers will scavenge on carrion, consuming the remains of dead animals they did not hunt themselves.
How Badgers Find Their Meals
Badgers primarily forage at night. Their robust physical adaptations enable them to acquire their diverse diet, including strong claws and muscular forelimbs well-suited for digging. These capabilities allow them to unearth worms, grubs, and burrowing prey like young rabbits.
Their keen sense of smell plays a significant role in locating food, particularly items hidden underground. A badger’s sense of smell is far more developed than a human’s, aiding them in detecting faint scents of prey and plants. Badgers often create “snuffle holes” – small pits dug with their snouts – as they search for worms and beetles.