This is one bad-ass badger.
University of Utah scientists who spent the winter studying how scavengers in the Great Basin handle the cold weather discovered something unprecedented in the annals of science: A very industrious badger managed to bury an entire cow carcass by itself over five days, then feasted on it.
The scientists had set out the carcass of a 50-pound calf in the belief it might attract vultures or coyotes, according to Gizmodo.com. They were shocked to discover their time-lapse camera had filmed this super-bad badger cleverly excavating tunnels under the carcass until the whole thing collapsed into a pit.
After that, the badger covered the carcass completely with soil, then constructed a burrow, where it feasted on the beef for 11 straight days, according to National Geographic.
The scientists said no one had ever before witnessed a badger take on anything larger than a jackrabbit.
“I was really shocked by the fact that these badgers could completely monopolize and dominate that food source,” researcher Eva Buechley told National Geographic. “This is an interesting niche, and it may be badgers are playing a more important role in the nutrient cycle than anybody knew.”
A study on the badger’s behavior was published Friday in the Western North American Naturalist.
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