The African Honey Badger
the Honey Bees Enemy
The African Honey badger is widely considered to be the most courageous animal in all of Africa.
I wouldn't want to meet one!
In fact, in 2002, the small, but aggressive honey badger was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most fearless animal in the world. Now if anyone had asked you which animal is the most fearless of all the chances are you would never have thought, the honey badger! Though their scientific name is Mellivora capensis their common name honey badger, is derived from the fact that they have a particular appetite for, among other things, beehives. Bearing in mind that the African honeybee is the most aggressively protective variety of honeybee, the African honey badger's routine hunting of their young while in the hive is only one reason for their legendary status. Besides Africa, honey badgers are found throughout the Middle East, in Russia, and in parts of Asia. The honey badger certainly gets around! A naturally stocky animal, honey badgers have jet black bodies with a gray patch of color surrounded by a white stripe that covers their bodies from the crowns of their head to the base of their tail. Though their look is quite distinctive, honey badgers are sometimes confused with a polecat or weasel, both which bear similar markings. Prone to digging, honey badgers have very long powerful claws, incredibly strong jaw muscles and no ears on the outside of their head, which makes burrowing for food easy. Because of their ravenous appetite for honeycomb, honey farmers frequently trap and kill honey badgers in an attempt to preserve their investments. The honey badger is able to easily locate honeycombs through a very keen sense of smell and the honey badger is even sometimes led to a honeycomb by the honey bird. I guess the honey badger understands the health benefits of honey!
Even though honey badgers are sharp hunters, it is not unusual to find a dead honey badger inside of a hive's trap after making its way inside and, unable to escape, being stung to death by its occupants. Contrary to what their name suggests, honey badgers aren't large honey consumers, but it is the honey bee brood that they enjoy feasting on, instead. The honey badger is known to travel as many as 24 miles in a day foraging for food, the honey badger is a relentless hunter that doesn't waste time as it quickly moves on to another kill as soon as the last one is consumed. Although they nurture a consistent appetite for honeycomb, african honey badger cravings do not end there. Known to kill and eat snakes, scorpions, rodents and insects, the honey badger is a very aggressive hunter. With a reputation that includes stealing food from other mammals, they have even been known to steal food directly out of a snake's mouth. After fearlessly eating the snake's meal, the honey badger will then turn on the snake, itself, for a second course! Other than big cats, such as leopards and lions, the adult honey badger has few natural predators. And, even in the case of big cats, it is normally aging adults that are preyed upon by these animals though they are still known to ferociously fight to the death even in their advanced years. The african honey badger stays strong till the end, possibly due to its diet! Besides the honey badger's aggressively brave behavior, another reason they are difficult for other animals to defeat is that they have a very thick, loose skin that allows them enough room, even while in the clenches of an another animal's teeth, to manoeuvre inside of its skin and still bite its opponent. Even with such feared reputations, the survival of the honey badger has recently been questioned. They are not endangered at the moment, but a real possibility of their extinction is a feared part of the future's horizon. Because honey badgers only have one cub at a time and farmers frequently kill adults, concerned activists have waged a campaign to preserve this ferocious beast. I am very pleased to think that there is not the remotest possibility I will ever come into contact with this ferocious beast the honey badger!
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The African Honey Badger is perhaps the biggest enemy
of the Africanized Honeybee
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