Abstract :
[en] In the past, the badger was widespread throughout Wallonia. However, it was hunted and destroyed to such an extent that it almost disappeared from the northern part of the Sambre-Meuse region. In addition, the successive gassing of burrows against selvatic rabies (1966): foxes, badgers and even rabbits. When the gassing campaigns were stopped in 1982, the badger population remained stable at around 700 to 800 individuals. Thanks to oral vaccination, rabies has practically ceased to occur since the end of 1991 and badger numbers have increased, from around 3,000 to 5,000 individuals, from 2009 to 2016. Could the badger be a pest of maize crops in Wallonia? It would therefore be desirable to carry out a regional study to analyse the proportions of cereals consumed by this species. The analysis of 150 roadkill stomachs (a random sampling) revealed 276 items that are distributed over various systematic orders, both animal and plant and also anthropogenic remains. In terms of biomass, invertebrates (28%) were found first, including earthworms (9%), followed by litter (24%), fruits (18%) (dried, blackberries, plums, etc.), cereals (15%) including maize (11%), vertebrates (11%) and anthropogenic remains (4%). Out of 150 individuals, only 13 had consumed cereals at the time of their death, 10 in summer and autumn, of which 9 concerned maize: at this season, it is particularly palatable when it is milky or pasty. However, in the Ardennes, the proportion of maize is very low compared to other regions. Food is taken from the ground (beetles, anthropic remains) or by digging the soil superficially: earthworms, tipulae and cockchafer larvae, bumblebee brood, young voles in the nest... The technique is different for maize at the doughy stage: the badger breaks the stalks, removes the spathes and eats the grains on the ground. In Wallonia, it seems that the badger adopts an opportunistic generalist behaviour, changing its diet according to seasonal, regional or annual resources. This predator is not a hunter: it consumes what it finds on the ground but it looks for earthworms in a preferential way.
