Hobbies And Interests

Ecosystem of the American Badger

Taxidea taxus, the American Badger, is found mostly in the Great Plains region as well as in suitable habitats in the western United States. These badgers are also found in Canada and as far south as Mexico. Badgers play an important role in their ecosystem as their diet helps to control or limit populations of rodents and their digging positively affects the soil.
  1. Diet

    • The American badger's habitat consists of prairies and plains and other open spaces such as farmlands. Its main diet of burrowing rodents helps to control populations of ground squirrels, mice, rats and gophers, which cause an imbalance in the ecosystem when their populations become too high. The badger also eats insects and poisonous snakes and cleans up the ecosystem by feeding on carrion. It will supplement its diet with birds, other reptiles, eggs, frogs, fish, snails and plant matter.

    Habitat Creation

    • The digging and burrowing behavior of the American badger is one of the key ways in which they have an impact on their ecosystem. The burrows of the American badger serve as a place for their daytime activity as well as food storage and a safe place for females to give birth. Once the badger has abandoned a burrow, which it does frequently, it then serves as habitats for other animals. Many different species in the badger's ecosystem use abandoned burrows for shelter or as a place to spend the winter. This includes snakes, burrowing owls and foxes. The survival of the burrowing owl and the swift fox actually depends on the burrowing activity of the American badger.

    Soil Aeration

    • American badgers have evolved into perfect diggers. They have toes that are partially webbed and have strong claws that can grow up to 2 inches. The badger even has transparent membranes that prevent dust and dirt from getting into its eyes when it digs. Burrows can reach up to 28 feet long and 9 feet deep. All this digging helps to get oxygen and air into the soil which leads to the formation of humus. It also allows water to soak deep into the soil. The aeration caused by digging improves soil quality and in turn benefits plants in the ecosystem.

    Mutualism

    • The badger has a special relationship with coyotes as they sometimes appear to cooperate during hunts. Essentially when these two animals hunt at the same time they can raise the amount of prey available for each other. The badger is adept at digging rodents out of their burrows in the ground, but they are not that skilled when it comes to running them down once they're above ground. The coyote benefits because it can then chase down any escaping rodents. Badgers may benefit when rodents fleeing coyotes hide in burrows as they can then dig them out. It's also true that some animals stay underground when coyotes are out, making food more available for badgers. Badgers and coyotes have been observed engaging in playful behavior with each other.


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