Back to: Top / Contents

Introduction

The limited information available (see below) indicates that the stink badgers forage in typical badger fashion, wandering about slowly in suitable habitats, rooting in soft ground with their snouts and digging with their long foreclaws, primarily for invertebrate prey. The main food items appear to be worms, insects and their larvae, other arthropods and also - in the case of the Palawan species - crustaceans (crabs). These foods are likely found mainly by scent.

It has been speculated that stink badgers also feed on bird eggs and carrion, and in addition it is said that plant foods are eaten [p36]. Skunks, which are believed to be the closest living relatives of the stink badgers, are known to eat bird eggs, carrion and plant material such as fruits in addition to their primary diet of invertebrates and small vertebrates [p1580, p1581, p1582, p1585], so it is possible that stink badgers do likewise. As Indonesian stink badgers in captivity have apparently eaten the entrails of chickens [p3], it seems to me that they would also feed on carrion in the wild.

Go to: Top / Contents / [References]

The Indonesian stink badger

In 1820, Thomas Horsfield wrote of this species in Java [p1174]: "it burrows in the earth with its nose in the same manner as hogs, and in traversing the hills, its nocturnal toils are observed in the morning in small ridges of mould recently turned up ... its food ... consists of insects and their larvae, and worms of every kind: it is particularly fond of the common lumbrici, or earth-worms, which abound in the fertile mould." Horsfield also described the manner in which a captive stink badger consumed earthworms when they were provided: "it ate them voraciously; holding one extremity of a worm with its claws, its teeth were employed in tearing the other: having consumed about ten or twelve, it became drowsy, and ... was soon sound asleep."

Further evidence of this species' fondness for earthworms is found in a 1962 report on mammals collected during expeditions to the lowland rainforests of northern Borneo [p1460]: "The stomach of one of our [Mydaus javanensis] specimens, collected in old logged forest, was well filled with large earthworms and contained nothing else. The earthworms were in intact segments 45-90 mm in length."

With regard to to other invertebrates eaten by the Indonesian stink badger, specific mention has been made of cicada larvae [p942].

An online account of the large tree shrew Tupaia tana includes the Indonesian stink badger in a list of the tree shrew's known predators [w32-10]. However this appears to be based on a misreading of the publication listed as a reference. That book [p1589] listed the stink badger as one of the carnivores known to be active at the author's study sites in Borneo, not as a confirmed predator of tree shrews.

As well rooting in soft ground with its snout, this stink badger digs with the long claws of its forefeet [w33, w648, p111-3]. References to food items being taken from decaying wood suggest that the claws are also used to tear open rotting timber in search of invertebrates. A field study in Borneo (Ulu Segama Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia) found that Indonesian stink badgers, Malayan sun bears Helarctos malayanus, bearded pigs Sus barbatus and pangolins Manis javanica created "similar feeding evidence when they fed on termites, earthworms, and other invertebrates from decayed wood or soil." [w1375-3, p379]

Horsfield, in his report of 1820 (see above), stated: "In its rambles in search of food, this animal frequently enters the plantations, and destroys the roots of young plants; in this manner it causes extensive injury, and on the Tengger Hills particularly, where these plantations are more extensive than in other elevated tracts, its visits are much dreaded by the inhabitants" [p1174]. This damage to seedlings was presumably 'collateral damage' resulting from the stink badgers' efforts to find invertebrates, rather than the result of the badgers feeding directly on the seedlings. More recent references to seedling damage by stink badgers [p36, w1375-3] are probably based on Horsfield's 1820 account; I am not aware of any first-hand accounts of such damage taking place during or after the 1900s.

In some areas, Indonesian stink badgers visit natural 'licks'. A camera-trapping study carried out in Borneo (Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia) from 2003 to 2005 [p1426] found that this species appeared on 36 auto-triggered photos and was the fourth most photographed visitor at natural licks. (In first, second and third place were the sambar deer Cervus unicolor, the bearded pig Sus barbatus and the lesser mouse-deer Tragulus javanicus.) Herbivorous mammals are believed to visit licks to obtain additional sodium to supplement that which they obtain from their plant-based diets. Carnivores (a category within which the stink badger was placed in this study) should obtain sufficient sodium from their prey and so not need to visit licks. It was suggested that carnivores might visit natural licks so that they can hunt the other species drawn there. However it seems unlikely to me that stink badgers would visit licks for this purpose, given the nature of their food and feeding habits. Perhaps those photographed at the licks in Borneo required some of the other nutrients which were found to be richer in the water at the licks than in nearby ponds and streams (calcium, magnesium and potassium).

Go to: Top / Contents / [References]

The Palawan stink badger

What little information we have on the food and feeding habits of the Palawan stink badger is based primarily on an account by Hans Kruuk of his observations of this species [reported in p111-5]. Kruuk found that this stink badger, like M. javanensis, used its pig-like snout to grub for food and also used its claws to dig for prey. Tracks made by a foraging animal were followed for about 2 km, and along the trail around 150 small pits, 1 - 6 cm deep, had been dug in search of food. The Palawan stink badgers foraged mainly in open, damp areas such as rice paddies which were situated close to shrub cover, and also used roads and paths. They were seen to eat insects such as beetles and mole-crickets (Grillotalpa sp.) and also small freshwater crabs. Because the short-clawed otter, Amblonyx cinereus, also hunted for crabs in similar habitats, they were sometimes found in the vicinity of stink badgers.

It is possible that the Palawan stink badger also eats snakes. Two species of parasites for which snakes are the usual hosts (the pentastomid or tongue worm Waddycephalus teretiusculus and the acanthocephelan or spiny-headed worm Pseudolueheia pittae) have been found in Palawan stink badgers [p1454, p1068].

Go to: Top / Contents / [References]

Picture credits

The Palawan stink badger photo used at the head of this Article is © Peter Widmann, and used with his permission. Credits for the photos used in the right-hand margin of this page for site navigation can be found on the Credits page.

Back to: Top / Contents