If in Russia the brown bear is considered the most famous lover to ruin a beehive and enjoy a honey, then in countries of Africa and Asia it is a pleasure to make a honey badger - a predatory, bold and cute animal. There are two other common names for a mammal: a bald badger and a warrior. This species belongs to the family Kunih, stands out in a separate genus and subfamily.
Description
Animal honey badger outwardly looks like a badger or wolverine. The body of the warrior is covered with thick, coarse hair, the upper part of the body and head having a white color with a slight red tint, and the lower part, including paws and tail, is all black. Interestingly, in the African jungle you can find rare specimens of a purely black color.
Honey badger is an animal, the photo of which is presented below, not a very large animal. His physique is strong and stocky, with short limbs and a fluffy tail. Long sharp claws grow on powerful forepaws, helping to dig the ground and deftly climb trees. The head of the mammal is wide, the muzzle is pointed with a short nose and small eyes, the auricles do not stand out. The males are slightly larger and heavier than the females: the body length (not counting the 25-centimeter tail) is about 80 centimeters, and the weight is 7–13 kilograms.
Honey badger is an animal with incredibly thick skin, thanks to which it is saved from bites of annoying insects. It also sometimes helps the animal to escape from large predators.
What a honey badger eats
The bald badger lives in forests, mountain and steppe zones, sometimes it was possible to observe it at an altitude of about three thousand meters. Honey badger is an animal whose description (for children) emphasizes its special "weakness" for honey. Indeed, he loves to enjoy honey and bee larvae, which makes him ruthlessly ruin the hives. True, the beast itself is not afraid of hundreds of angry stinging insects, because it is protected by thick skin.
And yet, the main diet of the honey badger is made up of animals, because it is a rather aggressive and courageous predator, capable of attacking even a buffalo that is much larger in size without fear. The usual food of a bald badger is various rodents: mice, hamsters, rats, gophers and other inhabitants of its territory. The warrior also hunts snakes, lizards, frogs, hedgehogs, turtles and birds.
Fearless animal can even attack the cobra! He does it very deftly. And immediately begins to eat a poisonous snake, despite dangerous bites. True, after a few minutes, the honey badger falls dead under the influence of the cobra’s poison and remains “off” for 40 minutes to two hours, and then, as if nothing had happened, gets up and eats up its prey. The fact is that for a honey badger the bite of this snake is not fatal, although it causes severe pain and temporarily paralyzes. After that, the snake killer feels healthy. And the inhabitant of Central Asia can eat poisonous scorpions. Berries and plant foods rarely become bald badger food.
Faithful friend
An interesting fact is the “mutually beneficial cooperation” of a predator with a small bird - a honey indicator, which detects bee nests and gives a conditional whistle signal to the rattle to crawl and ruin them. The bird flies from branch to branch, and the gourmet goes on the ground, following it. It turns out that the secret is that the honey indicator loves the larvae of bees, which they cannot get on their own. This is where a brave honey badger comes to the rescue, whose interests coincide with those of a cunning bird.
Hunter honey badger lifestyle
Honey badger is an animal leading a solitary lifestyle, like most marten. It hunts in the dark, going fishing with the onset of twilight. During the day it is active only in the mating season, and before dawn it can be found only in quiet secluded places in cool weather.
The mammal has excellent hearing, vision and touch, which helps him to be a great hunter. This is surprising, but the honey badger can sense the potential victim even at a depth of up to half a meter underground. He quickly tears the soil and strangles the caught prey. In pursuit of the same bald badger, several jumps are enough to overtake a small rodent or other food. The site is carefully guarded by each individual from its brethren.
A well-fed honey badger rests in a dug hole, and the depth of the shelter can reach two to three meters. On one site there can be several such holes, in the depths of which there is a cozy nest covered with grass and leaves. Species of African bald badgers can arrange nests in tree hollows.
The mating season of honey badgers and care for offspring
Honey badger - an animal described earlier, meets with individuals of the opposite sex only during the mating season, and then again goes to its site, where the rest of the year leads a familiar secluded lifestyle. The female needs about six months to bear the cubs. Usually 1-3 puppies are born that are in a deep hole for the first 14 days of life. The mother takes care of the offspring and does not leave the babies until they are one year old.
Honey badger is an animal selflessly protecting its cubs. The female, fighting for her life and the safety of the puppies, can bravely pounce on such a large predator as a lion. The warrior has no other serious enemies, and the animal itself can cause severe damage with sharp teeth and claws to the animal that attacked first.
Honey badger pest
One animal honey badger inhabits a fairly wide range, so it is not so easy to meet it. People perceive the bald badger as a malicious pest, because it often cuts livestock, ruins chicken coops, destroys bee nests. Traps are set in the villages on honey badgers and poisoned baits, which in some regions, particularly South Africa, has led to a reduction in the population of this predator, although the honey badger is not in danger of extinction.
In general, to date, the lifestyle of a bald badger in nature is not well studied. There is not even accurate information about the life span of a mammal. It is known that in the conditions of the zoo honey badger can live 25 years.