Recently, when I made researches on american badger I've found out they could apparently dig through think concrete, but I never manages to find were those info come from or if it was even true.
Also, none of my researches in french (first language) give me that type of info, but it mught bé me mistranlasting concrète.
Do you get any info on were that came from ?
I'm such a nerd that I got very excited about having something to research.
So first of all: you did not mistranslate. They are in fact saying that american badgers can dig through concrete. As for whether that is true or not, I had to do some digging (ha).
(American badger running across a paved road, by syrherp on iNaturalist)
Honestly, it doesn't seem like something that has been actually researched or tested in any kind of peer-reviewed research. So what we're looking for instead is reliable reports.
It is certainly listed as a "fun fact" by a variety of wildlife organizations, but none of them give a source.
I found this book on badgers, "Badger" by Daniel Heath Justice which mentions this behavior. I think the way he phrases does help explain how badgers might be able to do this.
"Of all the badgers, the North American species is perhaps the most powerful and effective burrower, having been observed not only to completely disappear through hardened soil in mere minutes, but even to systematically dismantle a concrete floor." (pg 58)
So it seems that the badgers are not digging through concrete the way that they would with dirt. Instead they are breaking the concrete into pieces and dismantling it. Which is still incredibly impressive!
He does have a citation for this statement, but I'm not able to access it without buying the book. Which I might do eventually because it seems like a good book, but is not in my budget right now. (Boy do I miss having a college library account)
(American Badger rolled over showing off his digging claws, by alejohand on iNaturalist)
I did also find a couple of individual accounts of this.
I found an account from 1939 from a person who kept an american badger in captivity and published his experience in a scientific journal.
"Whenever in the inch-thick concrete the badger found a flaw he picked out little pebbles until an opening was afforded for his claws, then jerked out sections of the concrete. He then scooped up a few handfuls of the dirt beneath it and proceeded to another flaw." (pg 51)
This backs up the idea that they are not so much digging through it as they are breaking it apart. I think that they probably would have a lot of trouble digging through newly set concrete, and that they are mostly getting through concrete that already has some cracks.
I also found a reddit comment where someone describes a badger doing this, also to concrete that was already somewhat broken up.
"I just had a badger dig through about 8 inches of concrete to get through the back door of my old general store. The concrete was a little cracked and definitely old, but it literally pulled fist sized rocks and cement out of the way to get under the door to go catch mice, or whatever. I'm amazed. I just found the damage this afternoon. Claw marks are cut into the rocks. Very tough animals."
Obviously a reddit comment is not the most reliable source, but this description seems very similar to the one from 1939.
(American badger digging next to a concrete road by plastoquinone on iNaturalist)
I also found this photo on iNaturalist of a badger digging next to a concrete road, and it looks like they've dug up some pieces of pavement, though it's kind of unclear from just the one photo.
Hopefully someday someone will get this behavior on video, or we'll get some more thorough research on it. Until then, it does some like this is a real thing that american badgers are capable of.
