Wildlife Spotlight: Honey Badgers
Honey badgers are anything but sweet – their ferret-like appearance hides a truly ferocious animal. Also known as ratels (which comes from the Dutch word for “honeycomb”), honey badgers are 20 pounds of pure furry fury when cornered, and you wouldn’t want to be on the business end of their sharp claws.
Yet, despite what YouTube might tell you, the honey badger is more than just an angry little critter. They are deceptively complex, smart animals who play a unique role in the Serengeti’s ecosystem. Though you’re not as likely to catch them during the day on safari, you may hear one in the distance at camp or catch a glimpse of one during a night drive. That’s why we’ve collected a sweet selection of facts about the honey badger for you to enjoy – as long as you don’t get too close.
They may share the same animal family, but honey badgers are more like weasels than other badgers.
Honey badgers are the only species in their genus, Mellivora. They are mustelids, or weasels, and are relatives of the ferret, otter, marten, polecat, wolverine, and, of course, the badger. They’re also like another black-and-white animal familiar to anyone with a nose – they drop a stinky “bomb” much like a skunk, though, thankfully, they don’t spray. Another good reason to run away from them!
Though they do love to eat honey, honey badgers are omnivores.
As scavengers, honey badgers will eat anything edible they can find under a rock or a tree. This includes honeycombs, but they will also eat larvae, eggs, birds, lizards, and snakes. But they have some green in their diet from roots, bulbs, and fallen fruit.
Honey badgers have gigantic brains…
…proportionally—they’re not huge compared to larger mammals, but for a barely-foot-tall weasel, they’re practically eggheads. This gives them some advantages in the wild – they can dig complex tunnels, overcome obstacles, and other spectacular feats to find their next meal.
They have incredibly thick skin for such a small creature.
Covered by a small amount of coarse fur, honey badger skin is about a quarter-inch thick and very loose. This is helpful when confronted by a larger animal – their saggy skin means they can turn and react with a slash – but it also comes into play when looking for food. Bee and scorpion stings, snakebites, and even slashes from larger animals can’t penetrate it. They also have a resistance to most venoms, which is a significant advantage when you eat honey and pythons.
Honey badgers have few natural predators if they have any at all.
They may be prey for some pythons and leopards, but this isn’t confirmed. That’s because they’re tough, not just to chew on, given their thick skin. They’ve been known to fight much larger animals over food and are very defensive of their burrows, even scaring off lions, jackals, and hyenas when cornered. In honor of this achievement, the Guinness Book of World Records described the honey badger the “most fearless animal on Earth.”
Juvenile lion on the verge of learning a life lesson: don’t mess with honey badgers!
Their claws double as rock-climbing tools.
The honey badger’s front claws are its biggest assets. Beyond slashing prey and digging, it helps them climb over a variety of terrain, and to put that bigger brain to use in search of food. Their thick, sharp claws allow them to get better traction on wet ground, open man-made beehives, and even unlatch gates at farms to get to the chicken coops.
Honey badgers use other tools, too.
Honey badgers are handy—beyond just using the tools they have on their paws. They’re known to use scavenged logs to scale and climb walls, often dragging and arranging them to make a bridge to cross or climb in search of food. Talk about a food-motivated animal!
Honey badgers don’t find honey by tracking a birdcall – humans do.
It’s a myth that honey badgers have a symbiotic relationship with honeyguide birds, where the bird will guide a honey badger to a hive, wait for it to tear it apart, and then feast on the leftovers when the badger is done. This has rarely, if ever, been witnessed in the wild, but there is one mammal out in the Serengeti that will follow a honeyguide to a beehive – humans!
Lesser honeyguide bird
You won’t have to camp near a beehive or dig into a burrow to see honey badgers while on safari with Thomson. Should you see one, it’ll be from the comfort and safety of your vehicle. They’re just one of the wonderful (and, occasionally, weird) animals of many shapes and sizes that live out in the Serengeti, each making the plains one of the most fascinating places on Earth.
