Honey badger. Life on the positive.
A honey badger in many unique qualities can be called a “special forces” of the animal world.
The honey badger, Ratel, or Bald Badger (Mellivora capensis) is an animal living in Asia and Africa. Fearless, hardy and capable of rapid adaptation of the animal, has an extraordinary wit and intelligence. A honey badger in many unique qualities can be called a “special forces” of the animal world.
The honey badger is capable of complex generalization. One example, he is able to open a cage, closed on the latch, even if the latch is fastened to the wire. The honey badger unscrews the wire, opens the latch and runs free. If from childhood to tame the honey badger, then he is quite friendly to the person and even allows him to play with him. These animals are easily tamed, have a cheerful and livable character. Usually, a honey badger comes to a man’s upbringing at a very early age if his mother dies. The fact is that the basic unique social instincts are laid down by the young honey badger by the female. She teaches him to climb trees, to resist large predators and snakes.
Having a small size, about 120 cm with a tail (tail 20-25 cm) and weighing up to 12 kg, it is able to resist any animal. The honey badger looks like a little bear with a white and gray color on the back and head. People use this camouflage technique for camouflage paint of fighter aircraft of the Air Force of the whole world, only in other colors.
The honey badger belongs to the family of Mustelidae and successfully digs burrows up to three meters deep, for digging holes and climbing trees on trees, the honey badger has claws of 5-6 cm. This is reminiscent of professional intelligence officers who do not spend the night for several days in the same safe house. Therefore, to trace and catch the honey badger is quite problematic.
This animal has a very thick skin, which, sometimes, can not get through even large predators. If necessary, the honey badger can use «chemical weapons», like a skunk.
Usually, the honey badger applies this unpleasant smell when he produces his favorite dessert. Honey for this animal is a favorite delicacy. At nightfall, he comes to the beehive, produces a fetid odor and eats honey without interference. A specific bird, a woodpecker family, helps the honey badger to find a hive. This bird is a honey tagger. She is not able to extract honey and resist the bees. For this purpose, the bird takes in the partners of the honey badger, indicates where there is honey. The honey badger with the help of her finds the hive and shares her prey with the bird.
The honey badger is a predatory animal and the main food for it is rodents, birds, snakes, scorpions and even small crocodiles. This animal is a hunter wagon, it is very unusual, it can climb a tree and eat some of its prey from a leopard.
There are cases when large predators choose their honey-eater for their prey.
It is documented how the lions tried to attack the honey badger. This small animal never turns its back on the enemy, but faces a face-to-face threat and carries out an active counterattack. A cognitive dissonance occurs in the head of a lion, a disagreement between action and persuasion, as it is possible, such a small fry can attack it. While the enemy is trying to comprehend what is happening, the honey badger is not without pride, leaves the place of the fight.
Sometimes the fearless honey badger dares to go out with the lions on the hunting path.
In the fight against snakes, honey badger is quite successful, despite their size and degree of poisonousness. If the snake manages to bite the honey badger, it becomes comatose for a while, and then, within an hour, it returns to its normal condition of life. A honey badger in the blood produces amino acid substitutions that neutralize the poison.
During the rut, the honey badgers form a pair. After mating, the female and male part. The pregnancy of the female lasts 60-65 days and is born from 2 to four naked puppies, after 30 days the puppies see their sight and the mother brings them up for about a year. Gives them all survival skills in the wild. The honey badgers live 25-30 years old and throughout their lives jealously guard their site, which can reach from 100 to 150 square meters. km
In ancient times, the people of Africa, considered the honey badger the idol of resourcefulness and vitality. The best warriors depicted the image of a honey badger on their bodies and considered this to be the honorary signs of their tribe.
The spread of civilization is detrimental to the population of the honey badger. According to the USSR Red Book, since the 1950s, an increase in numbers has been recorded due to the expansion of the range to the north and the increase in the number of animals in Southern Turkmenistan. To date, the threat of the disappearance of the honey badger, has ceased to exist.