If in Russia the brown bear is considered the most famous lover of ruining a bee hive and eating honey, in the countries of Africa and Asia this is done with pleasure by the honey badger - a predatory, brave and cute animal. There are two other generally accepted names for the mammal: the bald badger and the ratel. This species belongs to the mustelid family, is allocated to a separate genus and subfamily.
Description
Animal honey badger looks like a badger or wolverine. The body of the ratel is covered with thick hard hair, and the upper part of the body and head is white with a slight red tinge, and the lower part, including the paws and tail, is all black. Interestingly, in the African jungle you can find rare specimens of a pure black color.
Honey badger - the animal, the photo of which is presented below, is not a very large animal. His physique is strong and stocky, with short limbs and a fluffy tail. Long sharp claws grow on powerful front paws,helping to dig the ground and deftly climb trees. The head of the mammal is wide, the muzzle is pointed with a short nose and small eyes, the auricles do not stand out. Males are slightly larger and heavier than females: the length of the body (excluding the 25 cm tail) is about 80 centimeters, and the weight is 7-13 kilograms.
The honey badger is an animal with incredibly thick skin, thanks to which it is spared from the bites of annoying insects. It also sometimes helps the animal to escape from large predators.
What the honey badger eats
The bald badger lives in forests, mountain and steppe zones, sometimes it was possible to observe it at an altitude of about three thousand meters. A honey badger is an animal whose description (for children) emphasizes its special "weakness" to honey. Indeed, he loves to feast on honey and bee larvae, which makes him ruthlessly ruin the hives. True, the beast itself is not afraid of hundreds of angry stinging insects, because thick skin protects it.
And yet, the main diet of the honey badger is made up of animals, because it is a fairly aggressive and bold predator, capable of attacking even a buffalo, which is much larger in size, without fear. The usual food of a bald badger is various rodents: mice, hamsters, rats, ground squirrels and other inhabitants of its territory. The ratel also hunts snakes, lizards, frogs, hedgehogs, turtles and birds.
Fearless animal can attack even a cobra! He does it very cleverly. And immediately begins to eat a poisonous snake, despite the dangerousbites. True, after a few minutes, the honey badger falls dead under the influence of cobra venom and stays "out" from 40 minutes to two hours, and then, as if nothing had happened, gets up and finishes his prey. The fact is that for a honey badger, the bite of this snake is not fatal, although it causes severe pain and temporarily paralyzes. After that, the snake killer feels he althy. And the inhabitant of Central Asia can eat poisonous scorpions. Berries and plant foods rarely become the food of a bald badger.
Faithful friend - honeyguide
An interesting fact is the "mutually beneficial cooperation" of a predator with a small bird - a honeyguide, which detects bee nests and gives a prearranged whistle signal to the guard to climb in and ruin them. The bird flies from branch to branch, and the gourmet walks along the ground, following it. It turns out that the secret is that the honeyguide is very fond of bee larvae, which it cannot get on its own. This is where a brave honey badger comes to the rescue, whose interests coincide with those of a cunning bird.
Lifestyle of a honey badger hunter
The honey badger is a solitary animal, like most mustelids. Hunts in the dark, going out to fish with the onset of twilight. During the day, it is active only during the mating season, and it can only be found after dark in quiet, secluded places in cool weather.
The mammal has excellent hearing, sight and touch, which helps him to be a great hunter. This is surprising, but the honey badger senses a potential victim even at a depth of up to half a meter underearth. It quickly breaks the ground and strangles the caught prey. In pursuit, a bald badger needs only a few jumps to overtake a small rodent or other food. The site is carefully guarded by each individual from their fellows.
A well-fed honey badger rests in a dug hole, and the depth of the shelter can reach two to three meters. In one area there may be several such holes, in the depths of which there is a cozy nest covered with grass and leaves. Varieties of African hairless badgers may nest in hollow trees.
Mating season of honey badgers and care of offspring
Honey badger - the animal described earlier, meets with individuals of the opposite sex only during the mating season, and after that it again goes to its site, where the rest of the year leads its usual solitary lifestyle. The female takes about six months to bear the cubs. Usually 1-3 puppies are born, which are in a deep hole for the first 14 days of life. The mother takes care of the offspring and does not leave the babies until they reach the age of one.
Honey badger is an animal selflessly protecting its cubs. The female, fighting for her life and the safety of puppies, can bravely pounce on such a large predator as a lion. The ratel has no other serious enemies, and the animal itself can inflict severe damage with sharp teeth and claws on the animal that attacked first.
Honey badger pest
One animal honey badger inhabits a fairly extensive range, so meet himnot so easy. People perceive the bald badger as a malicious pest, as it often cuts livestock, ruins chicken coops, and destroys bee nests. Honey badger traps and poisoned baits are set in villages, which in some regions, particularly South Africa, has led to a decrease in the population of this predator, although the honey badger is not endangered.
In general, today the way of life of the bald badger in nature has not been studied very well. There is not even exact information about the life expectancy of a mammal. Honey badgers have been known to live up to 25 years in zoo conditions.
