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The honey badger ( Mellivora capensis), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed across Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only living species in both the genus Mellivora and the subfamily Mellivorinae. It has a fairly long body, with a distinctly thick-set and broad back, and remarkably loose skin, allowing the badger to turn and twist freely within it. The largest terrestrial mustelid in Africa, the honey badger measures long and weighs up to . Sexual dimorphism has been recorded in this species, with males being larger and heavier than females. There are two pairs of mammae, and an anal pouch which, unusual among mustelids, is eversible, a trait shared with and .
The honey badger is a solitary animal that can be active at any time of day, depending on the location. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural because of its thick skin, strength and ferocious defensive abilities. Adults maintain large home ranges, and display Scent marking behavior. The species has no fixed breeding period. After a gestation of 50–70 days, a female will give birth to an average of one to two cubs that will remain under her care for 1– years. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular media, the honey badger is best known as an aggressive, intelligent animal that is fearless and tough in nature.
The genus name, Mellivora, is derived from Latin, meaning "honey eater", while the species name, capensis, pertains to the location where the type specimen was discovered: the Cape of Good Hope. The origin of the word ratel is uncertain, but is thought to either be derived from ratel, which is Dutch for rattle or from the Dutch word raat, meaning honeycomb.
| Cape ratel ( M. c. capensis) (Schreber, 1776) | South and southwestern Africa | mellivorus (Georges Cuvier, 1798) ratel (Sparrman, 1777) typicus (Smith, 1833) vernayi (Roberts, 1932) | |
| Indian ratel ( M. c. indica) (Kerr, 1792) | Distinguished from capensis by its smaller size, paler fur and having a less distinct lateral white band separating the upper white and lower black areas of the body | Western Middle Asia northward to the Ustyurt Plateau and eastward to Amu Darya. Outside the former Soviet Union, its range includes Afghanistan, Iran (except the southwestern part), western Pakistan and western India | mellivorus (Bennett, 1830) ratel (Horsfield, 1851) ratelus (Fraser, 1862) |
| Nepalese ratel ( M. c. inaurita) (Hodgson, 1836) | Distinguished from indica by its longer, much woollier coat and having overgrown hair on its heels | Nepal and contiguous areas east of it | |
| White-backed ratel ( M. c. leuconota) (Philip Sclater, 1867) | The entire upper side from the face to half-way along the tail is pure creamy white with little admixture of black hairs | West Africa, southern Morocco, former French Congo | |
| Black ratel ( M. c. cottoni) (Richard Lydekker, 1906) | The fur is typically entirely black, with thin and harsh hairs. | Ghana, northeastern Congo | sagulata (Hollister, 1910) |
| Lake Chad ratel ( M. c. concisa) (Oldfield Thomas and Wroughton, 1907) | The coat on the back consists largely of very long, pure white bristle-hairs amongst long, fine, black underfur. Its distinguishing feature from other subspecies is the lack of the usual white bristle-hairs in the lumbar area | Sahel and Sudan zones, as far as Somaliland | brockmani (Wroughton and Cheesman, 1920) buchanani (Thomas, 1925) |
| Speckled ratel ( M. c. signata) (Pocock, 1909) | Although its pelage is the normal dense white over the crown, this pale colour starts to thin out over the neck and shoulders, continuing to the rump where it fades into black. It possesses an extra lower molar on the left side of the jaw | Sierra Leone | |
| Ethiopian ratel ( M. c. abyssinica) (Ned Hollister, 1910) | Ethiopia | ||
| Persian ratel ( M. c. wilsoni) (Cheesman, 1920) | Southwestern Iran and Iraq | ||
| Kenyan ratel ( M. c. maxwelli) (Thomas, 1923) | Kenya | ||
| Arabian ratel ( M. c. pumilio) Pocock, 1946 | Hadhramaut, southern Arabia | ||
| Turkmenian ratel ( M. c. buechneri) Baryshnikov, 2000 | Similar to the subspecies indica and inaurita, but is distinguished by its larger size and narrower Postorbital bone constriction | Turkmenistan |
The honey badger is the largest terrestrial mustelid in Africa. Adults measure in shoulder height and in body length, with the tail adding another . Females are smaller than males. In Africa, males weigh while females weigh on average. The mean weight of adult honey badgers from different areas has been reported at anywhere between , with a median of roughly , per various studies. This positions it as the third largest known badger, after the European badger and hog badger, and fourth largest extant terrestrial mustelid after additionally the wolverine. However, the average weight of three wild females from Iraq was reported as , about the typical weight of male wolverines or male European badgers in late autumn, indicating that they can attain much larger than typical sizes in favourable conditions. However, an adult female and two males in India were relatively small weighing and a median of . Skull length is in males and for females.
There are two pairs of mammae. The honey badger possesses an anal pouch which, unusual among mustelids, is , a trait shared with and . The smell of the pouch is reportedly "suffocating", and may assist in calming when raiding beehives.
The skull greatly resembles a larger version of that of a marbled polecat.
The dental formula is: . The teeth often display signs of irregular development, with some teeth being exceptionally small, set at unusual angles or absent altogether. Honey badgers of the subspecies signata have a second lower molar on the left side of their jaws, but not the right. Although it feeds predominantly on soft foods, the honey badger's cheek teeth are often extensively worn. The canine teeth are exceptionally short for carnivores. The papillae of the tongue are sharp and pointed, which assists in processing tough foods.
The winter fur is long, being long on the lower back, and consists of sparse, coarse, bristle-like hairs, with minimal underfur. Hairs are even sparser on the flanks, belly and groin. The summer fur is shorter (being only long on the back) and even sparser, with the belly being half bare. The sides of the head and lower body are pure black. A large white band covers the upper body, from the top of the head to the base of the tail. Honey badgers of the cottoni subspecies are unique in being completely black.
The honey badger is famous for its strength, ferocity and toughness. It is known to savagely and fearlessly attack almost any other species when escape is impossible, reportedly even repelling much larger predators such as lion and hyena. In some instances, honey badgers deter large predators by unleashing a pungent yellow liquid produced by the anal glands. They accompany this with a threat display characterized by rattling noises, Goose bumps, a straight, upward-facing tail, and general charging behaviour while also holding their heads up high. In a 2018 study, it was found that the presence of large predators had no effect on the population of honey badgers in the Serengeti. This is likely indicative of the honey badger seeking areas comparable to those favoured by larger predators, and perhaps adopting a similar ecological niche. Bee stings, porcupine quills, and animal bites rarely penetrate their skin. If , cattle, or intrude upon a honey badger's burrow, it will attack them. In the Cape Province it is a potential prey species of the African leopard and African rock pythons.
The voice of the honey badger is a hoarse "khrya-ya-ya-ya" sound. When mating, males emit loud grunting sounds. Cubs vocalise through plaintive whines, and when confronting dogs, honey badgers scream like bear cubs.
Despite popular belief, there is no evidence that guide the honey badger. In a 2022 study in the Kalahari Desert, it was found that black-backed jackals fed in such a way that took food away from the honey badger, leading to a 5% decline in total food intake above ground. The honey badgers were preyed upon by larger predators such as spotted hyenas, leopards, and lions.
The species has been given protection in numerous range countries, such as Algeria, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. It also occurs in protected areas in many countries, such as the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and the Ustyurt Nature Reserve in Kazakhstan. In Ghana and Botswana, the resident populations are included under CITES Appendix III, while the Indian population is listed in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as Scheduled-I.
The native people of Somalia believe that a man becomes infertile after being bitten by a honey badger, hence the wide berth they give to the species.
During the British occupation of Basra in 2007, rumours of "man-eating badgers" emerged from the local population, including allegations that these beasts were released by the British troops, something that the British categorically denied. A British army spokesperson said that the badgers were "native to the region but rare in Iraq" and "are usually only dangerous to humans if provoked". The honey badger has also been reported to dig up human corpses in India.
In Kenya, the honey badger is a major reservoir of rabiesChong, W. K. , Southern and Eastern African Rabies Group and is suspected to be a significant contributor to the sylvatic cycle of the disease.
Distribution and habitat
The honey badger ranges through most of sub-Saharan Africa, from the Western Cape, South Africa, to southern Morocco and southwestern Algeria and outside Africa through Arabia, Iran, and Western Asia to Turkmenistan and the Indian Peninsula. It is known to range from sea level to as much as in the Moroccan High Atlas and in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. Throughout its range, the honey badger is predominantly found in , mountainous regions and . These habitats can have an annual rainfall of as low as 100 mm in dry, arid regions to as high as 2,000 mm.
Behaviour and ecology
The honey badger is mostly solitary, but has also been sighted in Africa to hunt in pairs. It also uses old burrows of aardvark, warthog and termite mounds. In the Serengeti National Park, the activity levels of the honey badger was largely dependent on the time of year; in the dry season, it was mostly Nocturnality, in contrast to the wet season, when it remained active throughout the day, reaching its zenith during Crepuscular Ray hours. In the Sariska Tiger Reserve in India, a study concluded that the honey badger was highly nocturnal; a study in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary yielded similar results. The honey badger is a skilled digger, able to dig tunnels into hard ground in 10 minutes. These burrows usually have only one entry, are usually only long with a nesting chamber that is not lined with any bedding. Adults control a patch of land known as a home range. Females establish a large home range that changes in size depending foremost on the abundance of food, and particularly when rearing young, while males' considerably larger home ranges depend on the availability of females in heat; this often leads to males' home ranges intersecting with that of about 13 females. Adult males have an average home range of , compared to females' average of . It is suggested that adult males have a dominance hierarchy, and that females tend to avoid contact with each other, displaying less profound territorial behavior in spite of the 25% overlap in female home ranges. In the wild, honey badgers were confirmed to scent-mark while squatting, and it is suggested that this behaviour is an "important form of communication". They frequently scent-mark their territories with anal gland excretions, feces and urine. According to personal accounts, honey badgers in captivity were said to scent-mark in a squatting position, releasing fluid from their anal glands.
Diet
The honey badger has the least specialised diet of the weasel family next to the wolverine. It accesses a large part of its food by digging it out of .
It often raids in search of both bee larvae and honey.Stievater, B. (26 June 2019). " Beehive Fences to Deter Both Elephants and Honey Badgers". wildnet.org. Retrieved 6 September 2020. It also feeds on , frogs, , , , , snakes, birds and eggs. It also eats berries, and . Some individuals have even been observed to chase away lion cubs from kills. It devours all parts of its prey, including skin, hair, feathers, flesh and bones, holding its food down with its forepaws. It feeds on a wide range of animals and seems to subsist primarily on small vertebrates. Honey badgers studied in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park preyed largely on and (47.9% of prey species), Gerbillinae and mice (39.7% of prey). The bulk of its prey comprised species weighing more than such as , young African rock python and South African springhare. The study also found that males and females caught similar-sized prey, despite their disparity in size.
In the Kalahari, honey badgers were also observed to attack domestic sheep and , as well as kill and eat . A honey badger was suspected to have broken up the shells of in the Nama Karoo. In India, honey badgers are said to dig up buried human corpses.
Reproduction
The honey badger does not have a specific mating period, and instead breeds at any time of the year. Females have an estimated Estrous cycle of about 14 days. Their gestation period is thought to last 50–70 days, usually resulting in one to two cubs, which are born blind and hairless. Females give birth in a den, and transport their young from one shelter to another for the first three months. When foraging, females abandon their cubs, and return to suckle them in the den; sightings of females suckling young are generally rare, however, in one instance, a female suckling her young outside the den was observed laying in a supine position with her cub sitted atop her abdomen in an upside down orientation. At about three to five weeks of age, cubs begin developing the adult black-and-white coat, and at eight to twelve weeks, they follow their mother on foraging expeditions; weaning occurs during this period. On average, females will remain with their cubs for 1–1¼ years and during that time, they will teach cubs important life skills such as climbing, foraging and hunting. Not all cubs reach adulthood; in one study, the mortality rate of cubs in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was 37%, and was caused by predation, infanticide and starvation. Although the exact age when males become Sexual maturity is uncertain, several factors indicate that they reach sexual maturity at two to three years of age. Also uncertain is when females reach sexual maturity, however, they are thought to be sexually mature on the onset of independency, the largest indicator of this being the migration of females outside their mothers range not too long after the separation. The life expectancy of the species in the wild is unknown, though captive individuals have been known to live for approximately 24 years.
Pathogens
Honey badgers are known to be susceptible to rabies. In one instance, a seemingly rabid honey badger attacked a dog and several people in separate attacks within the span of two days before being shot. The incident occurred in Kromdraai, South Africa in July 2021. An autopsy of the dead individual confirmed that the rabies arose from canines, both wild and domestic. Parasitism that infect honey badgers include such as Strongyloides akbari, Uncinaria stenocephala, Artyfechinostomum sufrartyfex, Trichostrongylidae, Physaloptera, Ancylostoma, and Rictulariidae. There have also been cases of parasitic worm infections. Ectoparasites known to infect this species include Haemaphysalis indica, Amblyomma javanensis and Rhipicephalus microplus. In addition, the honey badger has been recorded with feline parvovirus.
Status
As of 2016, the honey badger is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its extensive range. It is mostly threatened by killings from and , sometimes with the use of or Trapping, and is used in traditional medicine and as bushmeat. In other cases, control programs that were meant for other predators such as caracals have led to unintentional honey badger deaths. It is thought that many honey badger populations were eradicated as a result of poisoning alone.
Relationships with humans
In Mass media, the honey badger has garnered a reputation for being an intelligent, fearless animal, with some people, such as Nick Cummins, adopting the name to symbolize these attributes. Nicknames or titles given to this species include "pound for pound, the most powerful creature in Africa", "most fearless animal in the world", "bravest animal in the world" and "meanest animal in the world". These names stem from the honey badger's ability to repel larger predators, which has been highlighted in such a way as to give the public audience the impression of invincibility. The noises made when performing the threat display are cited as another component of the honey badger's invincible image. Due to its ability of using tools, the honey badger is considered an intelligent creature and according to a BBC documentary titled Honey Badgers: Masters of Mayhem, captive individuals may work with others as cohesive unit to help unlock gates or enclosures with the use of tools. The species' supposed fearless attitude is highlighted in the popular comic book .
Human–wildlife conflict
Honey badgers often become serious poultry predators. Because of their strength and persistence, they are difficult to deter. They are known to rip thick planks from hen-houses or burrow underneath stone foundations. Surplus killing is common during these events, with one incident resulting in the death of 17 and 36 . Because of the toughness and looseness of their skin, honey badgers are very difficult to hunt with dogs. Their skin is hard to penetrate, and its looseness allows them to twist and turn on their attackers when held. The only safe grip on a honey badger is on the back of the neck.
In captivity
Honey badgers are kept in captivity as and to be exhibited in . They are said to be easy to Tame animal, with some reportedly ceasing the utilization of their anal glands. Despite this, when in contact with a handler, honey badgers often release anal gland secretions.
Bibliography
(2025). 9789004088764, Smithsonian Institution Libraries and National Science Foundation. . ISBN 9789004088764
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