The Food of the Other Badgers

A chipmunk. Image from the Kita Labs Icon Archive When the European badger goes searching for food, it usually forages for earthworms. But when the American badger searches for food, it usually hunts for small mammals. The American badger eats ground squirrels, mice, pocket gophers, kangaroo rats, prairie dogs, cottontail rabbits, marmots, chipmunks, deer mice, voles and even young skunks. All of these animals live in holes in the ground, and the badger finds them using its keen senses of smell and hearing. Once it has found a place where one of these animals is hiding underground, the badger digs down to it with its strong front legs. Other creatures eaten by the American badger include: The larvae of beetles, bees, wasps, and hornets. Ground-living insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, beetles and caterpillars. Frogs and toads. Lizards and snakes - including rattlesnakes. Ground-nesting birds and their eggs. Vegetable foods, such as cereals, are also eaten from time to time. Hog badgers feed on worms and other ground-living "creepy crawlies", along with roots and tubers. It finds these with its excellent sense of smell, and then roots in the ground with its snout, rather like a pig. The hog badger also eats fruits, and probably takes small mammals too. The ferret badgers forage for food on the ground, and probably also in trees as they are good climbers. They eat the following types of food: small mammals, including young rats carrion (dead animals and birds) small birds and birds' eggs frogs insects, including cockroaches and grasshoppers other "creepy crawlies", including snails and earthworms plant food, including fruits A frog. Image from the Kita Labs Icon Archive Nobody has studied stink badgers in the wild, so little is known about what they eat. They probably eat earthworms, insects, other small creatures, and some plant foods. Most likely they find these with their sense of smell, and use their long claws to dig their food up. A bee. Image from the Kita Labs Icon Archive Now, what foods do honey badgers eat? Maybe there's a clue in the animal's name. Do they like honey? Of course they do! Honey badgers get their honey - and lots of juicy bee larvae too - by raiding bees' nest and bee hives. When it makes its attack, the honey badger may release a foul-smelling fluid from glands under its tail. This is said to stun the bees, or at least make them fly away! If the bees' nest is in a hole in a tree, the honey badger will rip off the bark and tear through the wood with its claws. There is a type of bird called a honey guide which also likes to eat bee larvae, and beeswax. It can't break into bees' nests though. So when a honey guide finds a bees' nest, it looks for a honey badger! Once the honey guide has found a honey badger, it starts calling and displaying so that the badger notices it. Then it starts heading towards the bees' nest. The honey badger usually follows the bird, but just to make sure, the honey guide stops from time to time, and calls and displays again. When the bird and the badger get to the bees' nest, the honey guide waits while the honey badger goes to work! The honey badger digs out the bees' nest, and eats as much honey and as many grubs as it can. It doesn't eat everything though - there are always some larvae, and plenty of beeswax, for the honey guide. Apart from honey, honey badgers eat a wide range of other foods, including the following: Small and medium-sized mammals - porcupines, hares, rodents, and young antelopes. Birds - mainly ground-nesting species and their eggs. Reptiles - tortoises, turtles, lizards, and snakes - even cobras. Frogs. Fish. Insects etc. - beetles, ants, termites, scorpions and spiders. Carrion. (Even buried humans have been dug up!) Vegetable material - fruits, berries, tubers and roots. A spider. Image from the Kita Labs Icon Archive Of these, small mammals are probably the most important, with reptiles in second place. Go back to: the top of this page Go forward to: European Badgers - How Long Do They Live? Go forward to: The Other Badgers - How Long Do They Live? © Steve Jackson 1999-2001, unless otherwise stated. Material on these pages may be copied for personal, educational or other non-commercial use, as long as the source is acknowledged.