Honey badger

Honey badger

The honey badger ( Mellivora capensis ), also called Ratel, is a living in Africa and Asia carnivore species out of the marten family ( Mustelidae ). Despite its name, it is not to the Badgers in the proper sense ( Melinae ) counted, but remain in a separate subfamily, Mellivorinae.

Features

The fur of the honey badger is characterized by the striking black and white coloration. The upper part of the top of the head down the spine to the tail, is white in color gray. Of these, sharply defined, the lateral and lower parts of the body, including the face and limbs, which are black in color. In African forest regions, for example in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo also entirely black individuals live.

Your body is stocky, legs and tail are relatively short, the front legs are equipped with sharp claws. The exceptionally thick skin hangs very loosely on the body. The head is wide and provided with a short, pointed snout, the eyes are small, outer ear cups are not available. These animals can reach a body length 60-77 cm, a tail length of 20 to 30 centimeters and a weight of 7-13 kg, the males are slightly heavier than the females.

Distribution and habitat

The distribution of honey badgers includes large parts of Africa and Asia. In Africa, they are almost home across the continent, from Morocco and Egypt to South Africa. In Asia, their range extends from the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia (Turkmenistan ) and to India and Nepal. They inhabit a variety of habitats, including grasslands and steppes, temperate forests and mountainous areas up to 3,000 meters altitude. However, they avoid too hot or moist habitats such as deserts and tropical rain forests.

Way of life

Activity and social behavior

Honey Badgers are mostly crepuscular or nocturnal, in pristine regions or in cold weather, they are also observed during the day. As Sleeps use it mainly self-dug burrows. These are one to three feet long and end in a small, unpadded chamber. Sometimes they also relate rock crevices, hollow logs or abandoned burrows of other animals. They usually have multiple sleeps in their area and as they migrate long distances, they rarely use twice the same hiding place. In search of food they move mainly on the ground, sometimes they climb on trees, especially if they want to get to honey.

Like most marten live honey badgers mainly as a loner, sometimes you can even several animals, mostly families, couples or small groups of males, watching together. They have relatively large, often many square kilometers extensive home ranges. You should have no very territorial, but Mark conspicuous points on their migration with the secretion of their anal glands to inform conspecifics their presence.

Defense behavior

Honey badgers are considered extremely fearless, aggressive animals that have few natural enemies other than humans. The loose, very thick skin can not even by the teeth of wild cats or poisonous snakes or porcupine quills are imbued with the exception of the thin abdominal layer. The powerful front paws with long claws and teeth are more effective defense weapons. Additionally, they may, like the Skunks, squirt foul-smelling secretions from their anal glands when they are attacked. According to reports, they attack when they feel threatened, even to animals the size of a cow or a buffalo.

Food

Honey badgers are carnivores in the first place. They prey on mammals such as rodents or the juveniles of larger species such as foxes or antelope. Addition, there are birds and their eggs, reptiles (including small crocodiles and poisonous snakes), frogs, carrion, insects, larvae, scorpions and other invertebrates in their diet. The plant food makes in comparison with other marten species from only a small part of the food they eat here, among other berries, fruits, roots and tubers.

They also have a fondness for honey, which they owe their name. The honey badger is a symbiosis with a small woodpecker bird, the honey guide ( Indicator indicator ), a. Your name these birds due to an exceptional behavior: The honey marker will make alone or in small groups around and directs, inter alia, the attention of the honey badger by shouting to himself. Then it flies short distances, waiting for that one follows him. Find the honey guide signs on a toy in the nearby bee's nest, he now waits until the roof has found it and broken; the latter licks the honey while the bird destroyed the bee larvae.

Reproduction

The duration of the pregnancy, there are different observations, which is probably due to a how other martens also occurring delayed implantation of the fertilized ovum. Between copulation and birth pass five to six months, but the actual gestation period should be shorter. The litter size is two to four newborns spend in a cushioned with dry plants building their first weeks of life. The young stay relatively long, often more than a year, with her mother. Life expectancy in the wild is not known, in captivity they can be up to 26 years.

Honey badgers and humans

Despite their large distribution area honey badgers are rare due to their large area requirement. From people they are often regarded as pests because they break hives to get to the honey and sometimes also penetrate into barns to tear poultry. The persecution of poison baits and traps has led to as South Africa, are in some regions, has become rare. Honey badgers' skins are rarely traded. Overall, not one of the honey badger an endangered species.