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Insects and other "creepy crawlies"
The following are eaten:
- Large beetles (such as dung beetles, which are found in cow
pats). Cows compulsively avoid eating any type of dung (their
own or that of any other animal), so much so that around the
edge of a cowpat, a ring of lush green grass will soon appear
- as the cows will not even eat up to the edge of the cowpat.
This gives a chance for various insects (like large dung
beetles to earn a living doing whatever it is they need to do
with cow pats). These dung beetles provide common snack items
for badgers. Careful study of the area around cowpats can
sometimes provide evidence for badgers being active in the
local area!
- The leatherjacket grubs, larvae (grubs) of crane flies, certain moths, and
beetles - these feed on the roots of
grasses and are dug up by
the badger. Whilst
gardeners may "complain" about a
little hole that needs filling in, they may be happier if they
knew that the hole was created by a badger as it dug out and
ate a group of grubs of serious garden insect pests.
- Wasp larvae (badgers often dig out wasp nests so that they
can eat the larvae). Rather curiously, badgers have been seen
to almost ignore a wasps nest over a period of several weeks,
and on one particular night decide to go and open up the nest
and eat the grubs inside. It is thought that the badgers picks
a particular night to try a maximise the number and size of
wasp grubs inside. The badger digs through the top of
the wasps nests, tearing the layers off to get to the grubs.
In doing this is avoids the worst of the attacks from the
guard wasps at the entrance
- Honey and larvae from
bumblebee nests; although these nests
are often much smaller than wasp nests.
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