Biodiversity of the Week! Most Fearless Animal Alive.
Alta Buden
The Honey Badger, also known as the Ratel (Mellivora capensis)
Habitat: Most of Africa and western and south Asian areas of Baluchistan (eastern Iran), southern Iraq, Pakistan and Rajasthan (western India).
Favorite Foods: Honey/ bee larvae, superpoisonous snakes (can consume a medium sized–under 5 ft–snake in under 15 minutes, think about how many hot dogs that is), anything, literally anything, it can catch with its big sharp claws.
Two videos you MUST watch, even if you don’t read the rest of this:
Honey Badger and Greater Honeyguide
The scoop:
Though they look cute, and they have the word “honey” their name, Ratels can be likened to ruthless and cunning pirates. They fly solo, show no mercy, do nothing in moderation and fear nothing. These critters have been rated the Guinness Book of World Record’s most fearless animal. They are remarkably intelligent, being one of the few animals capable of using tools: In a documentary film “Land of the Tiger”, a honey badger in India was caught on film making use of a tool–the animal rolled a log and stood on it to reach a kingfisher fledgling stuck up in the roots coming from the ceiling in an underground cave.
My favorite thing about them, illustrated wonderfully in one of the videos, is their predisposition to eat highly venomous snakes, coupled with the fact that they are not immune to the poison of said snakes. Like fraternity brothers drinking during rush week, Ratels will chow down on a snake, pass out for a while from the poisonous bite, then when they come to, keep right on eating with gusto.
They also have a remarkable relationship with a small bird, the honeyguide in which the bird leads the badger to a beehive, and then feasts on the demolished remains once the badger is done.
They are tough as nails and meaner than Blackbeard (a notoriously cruel 18th century pirate). In one case, shown on an episode of Animal Planet, an old female honey badger that was nearly toothless and had one blind eye was attacked by a leopard. It took the leopard about one hour to kill the honey badger. Several African tribes report that the honey badger attacks the scrotum of larger mammals if provoked, and has even castrated humans.
On a contemporary cultural note, in mid 2007 urban myths began circulating in Basra city, Iraq, saying that UK troops stationed in the city’s airport had released a number of dangerous man-eating creatures into the area in order to spread panic among the local population. The stories described the creature as being black and about 1 m in length, with a monkey-like face and capable of moving fast. It was accused of attacking local farmers and their families and was blamed for cattle deaths. British forces quickly denied that they had released the creature. I think we can figure out who the real culprit was.
Tags: Honey badger, honeyguide, ratel
January 31st, 2008 at 3:50 pm → Whoa! I had no idea these creatures even exist- awesome! Read it ↓
Whoa! I had no idea these creatures even exist- awesome!
January 31st, 2008 at 4:30 pm → badgers are nothing compared to stomatopods!!! Read it ↓
badgers are nothing compared to stomatopods!!!
January 31st, 2008 at 5:22 pm → Love the blog--great post Alta. Fascinating. Are they at any zoos in the US? Though with the combination ... Read it ↓
Love the blog–great post Alta. Fascinating. Are they at any zoos in the US? Though with the combination of recent headlines and your vivid descriptions of castration, I’m not sure I’d have the cojones to visit them in my local, San Francisco Zoo.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:09 pm → I noticed that some publications referenced on http://www.honeybadgers.com/ have discounted the honeyguide birds relationship with better studies. In fact ... Read it ↓
I noticed that some publications referenced on http://www.honeybadgers.com/ have discounted the honeyguide birds relationship with better studies. In fact that film was talked about being faked some place but I can not find that reference right at this time. I do not think from reading these that one side or the other should be asserted as true but more study is needed I guess.
See the FAQ
http://www.honeybadgers.com/FactFile/F.A.Q.htm
and publications (Dean 1983; Dean et. al. 1990; Macdonald 1994).
September 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm → Great Post! Comparing Honey Badgers to pirates is an awesome analogy. They are my favourite animal. Any idea where I could ... Read it ↓
Great Post! Comparing Honey Badgers to pirates is an awesome analogy. They are my favourite animal.
Any idea where I could get footage of the leopard v toothless honey badger fight to put on my webpage?
Cheers,
Ges
February 7th, 2010 at 3:52 am → Great Blog on the badger. For more info and pictures this is a great web site. www.honeybadgers.org It also links to ... Read it ↓
Great Blog on the badger. For more info and pictures this is a great web site.
http://www.honeybadgers.org
It also links to the biggest Honey Badger group on Facebook.
Best Wishes
Rich
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:09 pm → Fascinating details...thank you! My son is looking for someone to do an email interview on this subject for a school ... Read it ↓
Fascinating details…thank you! My son is looking for someone to do an email interview on this subject for a school assignment. Would anyone at your site be available to do this?
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:12 pm → Hi Ellie, Sure, let us see who we can find. If you'd like to send the questions to secretariat@eol.org, that would ... Read it ↓
Hi Ellie,
Sure, let us see who we can find. If you’d like to send the questions to secretariat@eol.org, that would be a great way to get the process started.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:49 pm → Wonderful! I am very grateful. We will send the questions just a bit later today. Read it ↓
Wonderful! I am very grateful. We will send the questions just a bit later today.