Most honey badgers are active throughout the day, though near human settlements they may prefer the cover of darkness. Honey badgers mate all year and often have just one cub at a time. Good at turning rock crevices and hollowed trees into shelters, honey badgers will also make homes in the abandoned dens of other animals like porcupines and yellow mongooses.
Though honey badgers are widespread and considered abundant , they are hunted or persecuted in certain regions, especially when they come into conflict with farmers and beekeepers. All rights reserved. Common Name: Honey Badger. Scientific Name: Mellivora capensis. Type: Mammals. Diet: Omnivore.
Group Name: Cete or Clan. Size: 9 to 11 inches high at shoulder. Weight: 13 to 30 pounds. By: Jesslyn Shields May 22, Unless you were living in an internet-less cave in , you've probably heard of the honey badger Mellivora capensis. That year, the YouTube video below went viral — it's now been viewed over 91 million times, which is a lot for something that isn't a Justin Bieber music video — and its refrain, "honey badger don't care," became the mantra of millions for a while.
And although the honey badger has established a lasting place in internet culture because of this three-minute comedy bit, its celebrity makes us think we know more about this strange, solitary animal than we actually do. The truth is, honey badgers aren't well understood because they're extremely difficult to study. They don't realize how difficult it is to film a honey badger because they're very intelligent, a lot of them forage at night, and they have extremely big home ranges — some of them up to square kilometers [ square miles].
Honey badgers, or ratel, as they're often called in some parts of Africa a word that might be derived from raat , the Dutch word for honeycomb , are more closely related to a weasel than a European badger, and they actually don't eat honey , though their weakness for beehives often gets them in trouble with humans. They live in a wide range of habitats, from forests to deserts, but mostly hang out in dry area in Africa, the Southwest Asia and India.
Honey badgers have become synonymous with unhinged aggression and ferocity — Guinness World Records has named them "World's Most Fearless Creature" — and particularly tenacious professional athletes sometimes earn "honey badger" as a nickname.
They have a reputation for being nearly indestructible, but the truth is, they're short about 11 inches [28 centimeters] at shoulder height and not very fast, so they're sometimes attacked and killed by bigger predators.
But for a honey badger, the best form of defense is attack. Its lifespan in the wild is unknown, though captive individuals have been known to live for approximately 24 years. Where does a honey badger live? They live mainly in dry areas but are also found in forests and grasslands. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities. They will stand their ground and mix it with the best of those foolhardy enough to take them on How thick is honey badger skin?
The honey badger has a fairly long body, but is distinctly thick-set and broad across the back. Its skin is remarkably loose, and allows it to turn and twist freely within it. There are reports of arrows and spears glancing off their thick, rubbery skin, which is also loose enough that, should a honey badger get caught in the mouth of a predator, say a lion, it can writhe around and break loose or even attack the predators face and eyes.
It is said that there is almost no safe way of holding a honey badger that does not want to be held. Along with sharp teeth, honey badgers also have incredibly strong jaws and can bite down with enough force to break the shell of a tortoise.
How do honey badgers survive snake bites? Are honey badgers immune to venom? For instance, alpha-neurotoxins found in cobra snakes cause paralysis, respiratory failure, and death, yet honey badgers have mutated their receptors to defend against this neurotoxin. The scientists studied the blood to find out why the mammal was venom-resistant, keeping in mind that this could also help make for more effective anti-venom for humans. Cobra venom has molecules called alpha-neurotoxin that paralyze the victims' breathing muscles.
The alpha-neurotoxins attack muscle cells' nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and block signals from the nervous system that try to keep respiration working. After sequencing the honey badger's DNA, Drabeck found that its nicotinic acetylcholine receptor has mutated to prevent this from happening.
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