In consequence, eyesight is relatively poor, the eyes small and inconspicuous, but the sense of smell is well developed. The ears are small and, relatively, largest in ferret badgers. Badgers have a tough skin, bearing long, coarse guard hairs, often dull in color but sometimes with a striking facial pattern. Like all mustelids, badgers have well developed anal glands. The honey badger's anal glands secrete a vile-smelling liquid to deter its enemies, whereas ferret badgers, the teledu and the Palawan stink badger will squirt the contents of their anal glands into the face of an attacker.
Most badgers eat a variety of small vertebrates, invertebrates, fruit and roots.
Individual American badgers may form hunting associations with individual coyotes, but this relationship is poorly understood. In many areas the main food of the Eurasian badger is the earthworm, picked up from the surface of the ground, where it is most frequently found during spring and autumn nights. On favorable nights a Eurasian badger can catch several hundred earthworms in a few hours. Male American badgers become sexually mature as yearlings, but 30 percent of females have been found to breed in their first year, when only 4-5 months old. In the Eurasian badger, both sexes become sexually mature when about one year old, although they may not breed until later.