Intro

The honey badger has a famous reputation as a fearless, and fearsome animal, which has few enemies apart from other honey badgers and humans. In fact, the honey badger has been named the World’s Most Fearless and Ferocious Mammal in the Guinness Book of Records for a number of years now.

This badger is found across most of Africa and the near East. They are heavily built, and have a broad head with small eyes, no external ears, and a relatively blunt snout. The legs are short, but the forelegs are well-developed, and the fore feet are equipped with strong claws which can be up to 40mm long. The body colouration is a striking combination of silvery grey or whitish upperparts (from the top of the head across the back to the base of the tail), and black or dark brown sides and underparts.

Most Fearless and Ferocious Mammal

The honey badger is very well equipped to fight back against almost anything that attacks it. It has remarkably powerful jaws, and can produce offensive secretions from its anal glands. As a further defence, it also has an extremely loose, tough, rubbery skin, which is resistant to bites from other animals. It is said that the honey badger can twist around in its skin, so that it can bite an attacker even when it is being held by the back of the neck.

The honey badger also has a reputation for killing animals by attacking the scrotum - the victim then bleeds to death. It has been reported by several African tribes that the honey badger has, through its attacks, castrated various mammal species, including humans.

Various reports state that honey badgers have attacked animals as large as sheep, horses, buffaloes, wildebeest and waterbuck. On one occasion an observer saw seven lions abandon the wildebeest kill that they were eating, when three honey badgers approached. The badgers then took their share of the carcase.

Honey badgers are well known for their snake killing abilities, and can devour an entire snake up to 1.5m in length in less than five minutes. They particularly like to prey on dangerous venomous snakes, such as the puff adder. If bitten by a venomous snake, the honey badger will become severely swollen and paralyzed, unable to move for two to three hours. After this period of time the honey badger will re-awaken and continue with its meal or continue its journey. Even more tenaciously, a honey badger will gladly steal a snake's kill, eat it for itself then continue to hunt the snake. This ferocious nature of the badger has earned it its image as a forceful and formidable creature.

 Diet

The honey badger is predominantly carnivorous, with over 60 species of prey featuring in its diet. Some of the species eaten by honey badgers are as follows:

•  Mammals - rodents (including gerbils and mice), molerats, porcupines, springhares, polecats, and the young of the following species: foxes (including bat-eared foxes and cape foxes), jackals, wild cats, antelope (including bushbuck, klipspringer and kudu).

•  Birds - eggs and young birds are taken from the nests of ground-nesting species, and also from the nests of birds of prey in trees, including barn owl, raptors such as the pale chanting goshawk, and even vultures. Domestic poultry may also be taken.

• Reptiles - tortoises, turtles, small crocodiles (up to 1 metre), lizards (such as geckos and skinks), and snakes (including adders, puffadders, sand snakes, cobras, black mambas, and pythons up to 3 metres long!).

• Amphibians - frogs.

• Fish.

• Carrion - honey badgers will scavenge from dead animals, including those left by other predators such as leopards or lions, and there are reports that even human remains have been dug up.

• Invertebrates - bee larvae, beetles, insect larvae, termites, scorpions, spiders.

• Honey – Honey badgers have such a great appetite for honey and ravaging beehives that they have been found stung to death within the hives they were trying to eat.
   

• In addition to the above, honey badgers are also known to raid rubbish bins and tips to find food.