If in Russia the most famous amateur is to ruina beehive hive, and a brown bear is considered a brown bear, then in the countries of Africa and Asia it is happily done by a cannibal - a predatory, bold and handsome animal. There are two other common names for mammals: bald badger and ratel. This species belongs to the family of cuni, it stands out in a separate genus and subfamily.
Description
An animal is a honey-man that looks like a badger orWolverine. The body of the rats is covered with thick, hard hair, the upper part of the trunk and the head having a white color with a slight red tinge, and the lower part, including the paws and tail, all black. It is interesting that in the African jungle you can find rare specimens of a purely black color.
Cannibal is an animal whose photo is presentedlower, not very large animal. His constitution is sturdy and stocky, with short limbs and a fluffy tail. On powerful forepaws grow long sharp claws, helping to dig the earth and deftly climbing trees. The head of the mammal is wide, the muzzle is pointed with a short nose and small eyes, the ears are not prominent. The male is slightly larger and heavier than females: the length of the trunk (not counting the 25 cm of tail) is about 80 centimeters, and the weight is 7-13 kilograms.
The honey badger is an animal with an incredibly thick skin, thanks to which it is spared from the bites of annoying insects. It also sometimes helps the animal to escape from large predators.
What does the honey badger eat
Bald badger lives in forests, mountain and steppezones, sometimes it was possible to observe it at an altitude of about three thousand meters. A honey badger is an animal whose description (for children) emphasizes its special “weakness” to honey. Indeed, he loves to feast on honey and bee larvae, which makes him mercilessly ruin hives. True, the beast itself is not intimidated by hundreds of angry stinging insects, because it is protected by thick skin.
And yet the main diet of the honey badgerare animals, because he is quite aggressive and bold predator, capable without fear of attacking even the buffalo, much larger than the size. The usual food of a bald badger is different rodents: mice, hamsters, rats, gophers and other inhabitants of its territory. Hunter ratel and snakes, lizards, frogs, hedgehogs, turtles and birds.
Fearless animal can even attack a cobra!He does it very cleverly. And immediately begins to eat a poisonous snake, despite the dangerous bites. True, in a few minutes the honey badger drops dead under the influence of the poison of the cobra and stays "off" from 40 minutes to two hours, and then, as if nothing had happened, gets up and eats its prey. The fact is that for a honey badger the bite of this snake is not lethal, although it causes great pain and temporarily paralyzes. After that, the serpentine killer feels healthy. A resident of Central Asia can eat poisonous scorpions. Berries and plant foods rarely become the food of a bald badger.
A loyal friend is a honey booker.
An interesting fact is “mutually beneficialcooperation of a predator with a small bird - the honey-dog, which detects bee's nests and gives a conditional whistling signal to the ratel so that he crawls and destroys them. The bird flies from branch to branch, and gourmet goes on the ground, following it. It turns out that the secret is that the honey reader loves the larvae of bees, which they cannot get by themselves. It is then that the brave honey badger comes to the rescue, whose interests coincide with the interests of the cunning bird.
Lifestyle of a honey badger hunter
The honey badger is a solitary animal,like most of the weasels. It hunts in the dark, leaving the fishing at dusk. During the day, it is active only during the mating season, and before dark it can be found only in quiet secluded places in cool weather.
Mammal has excellent hearing, vision andtouch that helps him to be a great hunter. This is surprising, but the honey badger smells a potential victim even at a depth of up to half a meter underground. He quickly breaks the ground and strangles caught prey. In pursuit of a bald badger, several jumps are enough to overtake a small rodent or other food. The site is carefully guarded by each individual from their fellows.
A well-fed honey badger rests in a dug hole, anddepth of shelter can reach two to three meters. At one site there may be several such holes, in the depth of which there is a cozy nest, covered with grass and leaves. Species of African bald badgers can make nests in the hollows of trees.
The marriage period of honey badgers and care for offspring
The honey badger is an animal whose description is given.previously, it meets with individuals of the opposite sex only during the mating season, and after that it goes back to its site, where the rest of the year leads its usual solitary lifestyle. It takes about six months for the female to bear the cubs. Usually 1-3 puppies are born, which are the first 14 days of life in a deep hole. The mother takes care of the offspring and does not leave the babies until they reach one year old.
A honey badger is an animal selflessly protectingtheir cubs. The female, fighting for its life and the safety of puppies, can bravely pounce on such a large predator, like a lion. There are no other serious enemies of the ratel, and the animal itself can inflict severe damage with sharp teeth and claws to the animal that attacked first.
Honey badger pest
One animal honey badger inhabits a fairly extensivearea, so to meet him is not so easy. People perceive a bald badger as a malicious pest, as it often cuts livestock, ruins chicken coops, and destroys bee nests. In villages, traps for honey badgers and poison baits are trapped, which in some regions, in particular South Africa, led to a reduction in the population of this predator, although the honey badger is not in danger of extinction.
In general, today the lifestyle of a bald manbadger in nature is not well studied. There is not even exact information about the life span of a mammal. It is known that in the conditions of the zoo honey badger can live 25 years.
