American badgers and coyotes sometimes hunt as a team, trapping squirrels between them
A ground squirrel that spots a coyote dives into its burrow. One that sees a badger does the opposite, bolting out to outrun the slow digger. So when a badger and a coyote hunt together, the squirrel has nowhere safe to go, and researchers found the coyote's catch rate rises by about 33 percent.
The American badger is a stocky, low-slung member of the weasel family, found from south-central Canada through the western and central United States into northern Mexico. Despite the resemblance, it is not closely related to the European badger. Adults are usually 60 to 75 centimetres long; males can fatten to 11.5 to 15 kilograms in autumn when food is plentiful. A grizzled coat blends into grassland, and a white stripe runs from nose to the back of the head across a black-and-white face.
It is built to dig. Foreclaws up to 5 centimetres long, a conical head, bristly ears and protective third eyelids suit it to life underground, and powerful forelimbs rake soil back and to the sides. It chases pocket gophers, ground squirrels, prairie dogs and voles into their tunnels, sometimes blocking the exits first, and is a major predator of snakes, rated the most important hunter of rattlesnakes in South Dakota. Abandoned burrows become homes for foxes, skunks, burrowing owls and even tiger salamanders.
Badgers do not hibernate, but in winter they drop into bouts of torpor lasting about 29 hours. One radio-tagged female ranged over 1,790 acres in summer, 131 in autumn and only 5 in winter. Mating happens in late summer and early autumn, but implantation is delayed until December or even February, and litters of one to five, averaging three, arrive from late March. The young are born blind and emerge at five to six weeks.
Wild badgers typically live 9 to 10 years, with a record of 14. Habitat loss from overdevelopment has shrunk their range and pushed them into closer contact with people.
Source: American badger
