I’m not done, actually, because they in the weaselle family and I can’t not.
Badgers are in the weasel family right along with otters, mink, ermine, stoats, and honey badgers (tho, interestingly, the honey badger is not in fact a badger).
So firstly, to address the q in the op directly, let’s look at what happens when a coyote decides to tackle the much smaller cousin of the badger, a mink (skip to 30 seconds in)
okay, so, that mink idk which species it is off the top of my head but it weighs pretty close to two pounds. Three and a half pounds if it’s huge for a mink. An american badger averages 20 lbs. So imagine how the above would have gone if the mink was ten times larger. And twice as mean (and mink are already vicious).
I have seen footage of TWO large coyotes making a try for an american badger, and they even get him in their mouths from either end and try to tug-a-war him, but they can’t actually injure him much because his hide is too thick and loose. One coyote takes a strong hit and gives up and the other thinks about it for 20 seconds and in that time (i swear to all gods it only took literally 20 seconds on the video) that badger dug himself some damn fortifications: a tunnel in the icy dirt that he could retreat out of reach into, or threaten with his teeth from the entrance while the rest of him was under cover. He stuck his head out and let the coyote realize his new position, then he came slowly out and stalked toward the coyote until the coyote’s nerve broke and it ran, and that badger scored one final bite on its ass.
Altho it is worth noting, in case anyone reading this was unaware, american badgers and coyotes have been observed in cooperative hunting, as in teaming up to hunt together, which I assume was the context of the implied exchange in the op.
I keep saying american badger because that’s what is pictured, and that is what is likely to interact with a coyote.
European badgers are like the very polite cousin of the american badger. The european badger lives in communal burrows where they dig a separate bathroom to use, and they eat a lot of earthworms and tubers and some lizards or whatever. Civilized.
American badgers live alone in burrows they’ve taken over by murdering and eating the previous occupant, and they eat literally anything they can bite enough times to kill. They will bury an entire cow carcass to save it for later.
Like, please do not mess with a european badger, they are still weasels and not to be trifled with, but oh my goodness what a demon the american badger is.
And whatever ancient weasel evolved into the american badger also went up north and became the wolverine.
And if you want to know what a wolverine is like, you should know three things.
One: this is the live trap biologists use to tag and study wolverines. Only you don’t really trap a wolverine with this, more like inconvenience it; once set, biologists have to check it often. That’s because when a wolverine digs it digs in frozen earth and when it eats a goat or an elk, it eats all the bones, hooves and horns — their claws and teeth will just saw right through that wood.
Two: They can dig into the frozen earth like I can dig in sand. They can climb a tree as fast as I can run. And they’re much better swimmers than I am. Btw I love climbing trees and I was on the competitive swim team in school. Oh, and while they can’t fly, they have been known to hunt and eat eagles. Nowhere is safe.
though it is extremely rare, wolverines have been observed killing both grizzly bears and adult moose.
they hunt alone or sometimes in pairs and are this size
which is terrifyingly large for a weasel, but SO small compared to moose and brown bears. And yet they can and will murder those animals. r.
I bring up the wolverine because, a case can be made that an american badger is to a wolverine what a coyote is to a grey wolf. And wolverines have been known to kill and eat wolves.
So yeah, badgers and coyotes actually make great hunting partners and sometimes cooperate, and otherwise tend to leave each other alone, but if it came down to a 1v1 coyote vs badger… either the coyote runs away or the badger takes it out.
Oh and, one very last important point
this is my dog, whose name is Badger, and who is the same general size and shape as a coyote
