by Naturalist Candace Rho

The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is easily my favorite mammal that lives here with us in Livermore, California.

Badger Spotting in the Park

One sunny but chilly day while I was working in Sycamore Grove Park last year, routine park visitors stopped in the Wetmore Nature Center to share how they saw an American badger scurry in front of them across one of the trails around 30 or 40 years ago. I hope to see one myself someday!

Friend Shaped But Not Friendly

Taxidea taxus, the scientific name for the American badger, has a sweet and adorable face (with sharp teeth!), dark brown patches and white stripes, a broad and flat head, small ears, and a stubby tail. The size proportion of its small head and large body can be a silly sight. These badgers are great meat eaters and perfect grassland hunters/predators. Even though they are friend shaped (they look like very big and plushy stuffed animals), they do not view people the same way we view them. It is very important to respect them and to remember they have wicked teeth and claws. If you ever cross paths with a badger, make sure you give it space! This critter may not look like a speed racer but beware it can reach up to 19 mph! How fast can you run?

 

(Editor’s note: we must be explicit here – don’t pick up badgers!)

Ecosystem Engineers

The National Park Service continues the description by explaining this species of badger, “...are medium-sized mammals with stocky bodies, short legs, and a tapered head...and their torso’s coarse fur is thatched with black, brown, and white hairs, giving their coat a unique blended appearance” (NPS, 2025). The American badger is a very robust and strong animal; it is equipped with long, sharp claws, and a streamlined body designed for digging and tunneling (NPS, 2025). There is no doubt that they are ecosystem engineers.

Ecosystem engineers are vital in supporting the foundation of a local network of organisms. Ecosystem engineers, like the American badger, provide habitat for most wildlife on the ground, and support the foundation of the local food web. Since the American badger specializes in tunneling underground, these burrowing animals create vast landscapes, underground highways, and underground cities for wildlife to thrive below the surface. Furthermore, the American badger indirectly aerates the soil, disperses plant seeds, and directly controls populations of smaller mammals and rodents to help balance the food web.

Pest Control

These badgers are mostly carnivorous; they love to eat ground squirrels, rats, prairie dogs, gophers, and mice. They could be viewed as pest control! However, American badgers are  not picky; they will hunt snakes, other reptiles, insects, eggs, various plants, and birds. Sometimes they save their leftovers by burying them somewhere, saving the food for later. The cool underground dirt acts as a natural refrigerator and shields the carrion, or dead animal, from other scavengers. Click here to watch an American badger bury a cow calf!

Aribenders Among Us

This scientific research directly shows the power, strength, and stamina that American badgers use to sculpt the earth. The creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender knew this too.

Badger Representation in Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Original Earthbenders

If you have not yet watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, I highly recommend this low commitment series. It is a great family-friendly show and very fun to watch for all ages; I will be rewatching it soon! This is a piece of modern media that recognizes the power of earthbenders and ecosystem engineers, like the badger. 

Elusive but Abundant 

There are several species of badger around the world. I would say Livermore is extremely lucky to be a home for the American badger. These creatures are normally solitary, but they could sometimes be in breeding pairs or in family units. The American badger has an enormous range throughout North America spanning from the Mid-west, north to Canada, south to Texas, and out west to California. Even though the badger is widely distributed throughout the continent, they are pretty elusive, and not often seen, especially in the California East Bay. While this could partly be because of their nocturnal behavior where they prefer to be active at nighttime, the biggest impact may be humans. Over the last century, humans have turned nonhuman nature (natural environments) into synthetically constructed built environments also known as human nature / human development.  

 Sightings are Rare

Changes in land use may be the biggest threat to the American badger. Examples include the dramatic shift of grassland, savannah, and other habitat into agricultural land, roads and highways, and more which divide and split nonhuman nature, cutting off open space, and shrinking badger habitat. Locally, most modern-day sightings of badgers or badger sign are found out of the city and up in the hills. A badger burrow was sighted on the  northside of Brushy Peak in 2024 and in 2025 a badger popped up on a trail cam in the hills above Sycamore Grove.

I want to give a big thank you to all the Sycamore Grove Park visitors for supporting local open spaces, preserving habitat, and helping all wildlife have a home in the same city we live in.