59 The Badger

The badger is a member of the weasel family. It ranges throughout the western United States. It is both a help and a burden to farmers and ranchers. It kills harmful rodents, but it also digs deep holes that cause tractors to break wheels and livestock to break legs.

A clumsy critter, the slow-footed badger is built low to the ground, with short legs and a flat, squat body. It digs like a steam shovel into the rich earth of the prairie. Its strong, dark feet, each tipped with five two-inch-long nails, can dig any gopher or ground squirrel out of its burrow.

This pigeon-toed, round-shouldered ground hugger is dirty yellowish gray with a dark brown face striped with white. It may grow to more than two feet long and weigh up to twenty-five pounds. The badger has thirty-four sharp teeth and a menacing growl and hiss that make it about as sociable as a grizzly bear. Being a close cousin to the skunk, it doesn’t smell very good.

An acute sense of smell enables the badger to locate food underground. It eats snakes and snails, insects, rats and mice, gophers, ground squirrels, and other rodents. Occasionally it will kill ground-nesting birds and eat their nestlings or eggs, but the badger saves many more birds than it destroys. The rodents it usually kills are animals that hunt birds. And the holes it digs in its quest for food provide homes for many animals.

獾是鼬科动物的一种，分布在美国整个西部地区。它对农民和牧场主来说既是帮手也是负担：它会捕杀有害的啮齿动物，但也会挖出深坑，导致拖拉机车轮损坏、家畜腿受伤。

獾是一种笨拙的生物，脚步迟缓，身体贴近地面，腿短，体型扁平而矮壮。它在草原肥沃的泥土里挖掘的样子就像蒸汽铲。它强壮的深色脚掌每只都长着五根两英寸长的指甲，能把任何囊地鼠或地松鼠从洞穴里挖出来。

这种内八字、圆肩、贴地活动的动物是脏脏的黄灰色，深棕色的脸上带有白色条纹。它能长到两英尺多长，体重可达二十五磅。獾有三十四颗锋利的牙齿，还会发出凶狠的低吼和嘶嘶声，让它和灰熊一样不怎么合群。作为臭鼬的近亲，它的气味可不太好闻。

敏锐的嗅觉能让獾找到地下的食物。它吃蛇、蜗牛、昆虫、大鼠、小鼠、囊地鼠、地松鼠和其他啮齿动物。偶尔它会捕杀地面筑巢的鸟类，吃掉幼鸟或鸟蛋，但獾拯救的鸟类比它伤害的要多得多——它通常捕杀的啮齿动物都是会捕食鸟类的动物。而且它为觅食而挖的洞，还能给许多动物提供栖息地。