Honey Badger,
also known as ratel, medium-sized, skunklike mammal native to Africa and parts
of Asia. Named for its habit of eating honey, the honey badger is also a
courageous fighter, willing to attack cobras and most Africa’s dangerous
serpents which fall as pray to the badger.
Honey badgers
are found throughout most of Africa as well as in southern and central Asia,
ranging eastward from the Arabian Peninsula to India and Nepal. They inhabit
forests as well as open grasslands and dry savannas.
Honey badgers
have muscular bodies, measuring between 60 and 77 cm (24 and 30 in) long not
including the 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in) tail. They may weigh up to 13 kg. The
honey badger’s markings are quite distinctive. The head, neck, and back are
covered with coarse, gray-white fur, while the face, legs, belly, and short
furry tail are solid black. A small number of honey badgers are entirely black.
Their short legs and large, strong claws are well adapted for digging.
Honey badgers
are extremely difficult to kill. The skin is unusually tough and is attached
loosely to the body, making it hard for other animals to grasp the honey
badger. Animal bites, bee stings, or porcupine quills usually do not penetrate
the honey badger’s tough hide. As an added deterrent to predators, the anal
glands of honey badgers can emit a foul-smelling liquid.
The honey badger
is so named because bee honey is one of its favorite foods. In parts of Africa,
the honey badger finds beehives with the help of a bird that eats bee larvae,
called the honey guide. When it finds a beehive, the bird gives a series of
characteristic calls to guide the honey badger to it. The honey badger then
uses its strong legs, claws, and teeth to tear open the hive, and both animals
feed on the contents. Other foods in the honey badger’s diet include insects,
eggs, birds, lizards, snakes, plants, and small mammals. It forages for food in
either the day or night.
Honey badgers
live in underground burrows that they dig with their strong legs and claws.
They den in groups but often hunt alone or in pairs. After mating, the female
experiences delayed implantation, which means the fertilized eggs do not start
developing for several months. The gestational period, including this delay, is
thought to be about six months. The female gives birth to one to four young,
which she raises in a grass-lined chamber.
Honey badgers are known to be quite courageous—they
will attack large animals, such as horses,
cattle, antelope, and buffalo, if
these creatures intrude upon their burrows. Because of their fierce style of
self-defense, honey badgers have not been widely hunted for their fur. In spite
of this ferocity, they are sometimes raised as pets, because they can be tame
and affectionate if caught young. An adult honey badger is still a strong,
energetic animal, however, and pets have been known to damage cages and other
property and to attack without apparent reason
INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER ANIMALS
Not all
interactions between humans and other species are detrimental. A symbiotic
relationship between two species that is beneficial to both is said to be
mutualistic. An example is the association between the badger, and a bird
called the honey guide, with the apt scientific name Indicator. The
birds guide the badger to beehives often situated in places, such as rocky
crevices, difficult for the honey guides to reach and wait to feed on the
honeycomb fragments left after the badger have had their meal.
ENVIROMENTAL IMPACTS
Badgers are termed
as fearless animals with feracious apatite that spend most of their life
hunting and searching for food. Badgers are one of the few animals that are not
endangered nonetheless honey badgers, as seen from their name are honey loving
animals but with bees that produce honey being affected by global warming means
that honey badger are in return are
affected. With carbon pollution that’s intensifying global warming it is only a
matter of time before the badger joins the list of endangered species
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