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Lifespan, longevity, and ageing

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Maximum longevity: 31.3 years (captivity) Observations: One captive specimen lived 31.3 years (Richard Weigl 2005).
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Behavior

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Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical

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Hiller, C. 1999. "Mellivora capensis" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Mellivora_capensis.html
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Conservation Status

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The ratel has a wide range, but it is rare in this homeland. As a nomadic predator, its need for lots of space makes it threatened in areas of human development. This threat has been answered by some governments with laws of protection. In Israel, killing a ratel is punishable by imprisonment. Some scientists, however, question the reliability of some of these claims. It can be hard to track an animal with such a wide home range who is also secretive and nomadic. This could be why so few of these animals are ever spotted. (Killingly and Long, 1983. National Geographic, 1981)

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

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Benefits

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Some ratels have attacked domestic sheep for food. Ratels can also be harmful to humans when frightened. (Killingly and Long, 1983)

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Benefits

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The ratel keeps down the population of disease carrying rodents and annoying insects. In the past, pelts have been sold for their attractiveness. (Killingly and Long, 1983)

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Trophic Strategy

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As a predator, the ratel uses its quickness to run down much of its prey. It attacks even poisonous snakes, relying on its shaggy coat to protect it from harm. Squat and muscular, the ratel is ready for battle, having been known to attack animals much larger than itself such as the African buffalo, the gnu, or waterbuck. The ratel is omnivorous. It is most often observed consuming small reptiles, rodents, birds, insects and even carrion but it also eats fruits, berries, roots, plants, and eggs. Ratels frequently attack bee hives, to eat the stored honey and larval bees. This habit has resulted in the evolution of a mutualistic relationship between the ratel and the greater honey guide bird, Indicator indicator, which eats honey, larvae, and wax from bee hives. (Killingly and Long, 1983; Neal, 1986)

Animal Foods: birds; mammals; amphibians; reptiles; eggs; carrion ; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Plant Foods: roots and tubers; fruit

Primary Diet: omnivore

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Distribution

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The ratel is found all across Africa, the Middle East, and India, but it does not live in deserts where the climate is hot and arid, and nor in equatorial jungles that are too wet and too dense. (Killingly and Long, 1983)

Biogeographic Regions: oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native )

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Habitat

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The ratel exists mostly in temperate climates, and not in overtly hot and arid, or wet and dense ones, such as jungles and deserts. (Neal, 1986. Killingly and Long, 1983)

Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest

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Life Expectancy

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Average lifespan
Status: wild:
26.4 years.

Average lifespan
Status: captivity:
26.5 years.

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Morphology

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The ratel's head and body are, on average, 0.8 meters (2.4 feet) in length with the tail up to 0.3 meters (.9 feet) long. On average, the female is only slightly smaller than the male. The ratel is black, with a white stripe that originates just above the eyes and terminates at the tip of the tail, covering nearly the entire width of the back, from shoulder to shoulder. (Killingly and Long, 1983; Rosevear, 1974)

Range mass: 9 to 12 kg.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry

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Reproduction

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Though mating may not be strictly reserved for a specific season, it usually occurs in September and October. After a gestation period of around six months, one to four cubs, usually two, are born in April or May. The cubs are hairless, blind, and lack the coloration of the adult ratel. Because the animal is so secretive very little is known about its reproduction. (Neal, 1986. Rosevear, 1974)

Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual

Average birth mass: 210 g.

Average gestation period: 180 days.

Average number of offspring: 2.

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Brief Summary

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The honey badger (ratel) is found throughout the Eastern Hemisphere, most notably across Africa, India and Asia. It is well known for its very thick, defensive skin, and along with very sharp claws makes the honey badger a formidable opponent. Honey badgers, true to their name, normally look for beehives as a source of food. They are also carnivorous, and will eat frogs, gerbils and other small rodents. The honey badger's lifespan is unknown, but is has had a recorded lifespan of 24 years when kept in captivity. The species is very hard to track, as they will hunt during the night whenever there is a large human presence. They live in self-dug holes, and do not use any nesting, so they will move often and take residence in holes used by other animals often.
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Honey badger

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The honey badger (Mellivora capensis), also known as the ratel (/ˈrɑːtəl/ or /ˈrtəl/), is a mammal widely distributed in Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

It is the only living species in the genus Mellivora and in the mustelid subfamily Mellivorinae. Despite its name, the honey badger does not closely resemble other badger species; instead, it bears more anatomical similarities to weasels. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin, strength and ferocious defensive abilities.

Taxonomy

Viverra capensis was the scientific name used by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777 who described a honey badger skin from the Cape of Good Hope.[2] Mellivorae was proposed as name for the genus by Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr in 1780.[3] Mellivorina was proposed as a tribe name by John Edward Gray in 1865.[4]

The honey badger is the only species of the genus Mellivora. Although in the 1860s it was assigned to the badger subfamily, the Melinae, it is now generally agreed that it bears few similarities to the Melinae. It is much more closely related to the marten subfamily, Guloninae, and furthermore is assigned its own subfamily, Mellivorinae.[5] Differences between Mellivorinae and Guloninae include differences in their dentition formulae. Though not in the same subfamily as the wolverines, which are a genus of large-sized and atypical Guloninae, the honey badger can be regarded as another, analogous, form of outsized weasel or polecat.

Evolution

The species first appeared during the middle Pliocene in Asia.[6] A number of extinct relatives are known dating back at least 7 million years to the Late Miocene. These include Mellivora benfieldi from South Africa and Italy, Promellivora from Pakistan, and Howellictis from Chad. More distant relatives include Eomellivora, which evolved into several different species in both the Old and New World, and the giant, long-legged Ekorus from Kenya.[7]

Subspecies

In the 19th and 20th centuries, 16 zoological specimens of the honey badger were described and proposed as subspecies.[8] As of 2005, 12 subspecies are recognised as valid taxa.[9] Points taken into consideration in assigning different subspecies include size and the extent of whiteness or greyness on the back.[10]

Description

Skull
Skeleton

The honey badger has a fairly long body, but is distinctly thick-set and broad across the back. Its skin is remarkably loose, and allows the animal to turn and twist freely within it.[16] The skin around the neck is 6 mm (0.24 in) thick, an adaptation to fighting conspecifics.[17] The head is small and flat, with a short muzzle. The eyes are small, and the ears are little more than ridges on the skin,[16] another possible adaptation to avoiding damage while fighting.[17]

The honey badger has short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot. The feet are armed with very strong claws, which are short on the hind legs and remarkably long on the forelimbs. It is a partially plantigrade animal whose soles are thickly padded and naked up to the wrists. The tail is short and is covered in long hairs, save for below the base.

The honey badger is the largest terrestrial mustelid in Africa. Adults measure 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11.0 in) in shoulder height and 55–77 cm (22–30 in) in body length, with the tail adding another 12–30 cm (4.7–11.8 in). Females are smaller than males.[16] In Africa, males weigh 9 to 16 kg (20 to 35 lb) while females weigh 5 to 10 kg (11 to 22 lb) on average. The mean weight of adult honey badgers from different areas has been reported at anywhere between 6.4 to 12 kg (14 to 26 lb), with a median of roughly 9 kg (20 lb), per various studies. This positions it as the third largest known badger, after the European badger and hog badger, and fourth largest extant terrestrial mustelid after additionally the wolverine.[8][18][19][20][21] However, the average weight of three wild females from Iraq was reported as 18 kg (40 lb), about the typical weight of male wolverines or male European badgers in late autumn, indicating that they can attain much larger than typical sizes in favorable conditions.[22][23] However, an adult female and two males in India were relatively small weighing 6.4 kg (14 lb) and a median of 8.4 kg (19 lb).[8] Skull length is 13.9–14.5 cm (5.5–5.7 in) in males and 13 cm (5.1 in) for females.[24]

There are two pairs of mammae.[25] The honey badger possesses an anal pouch which, unusual among mustelids, is eversible,[26] a trait shared with hyenas and mongooses. The smell of the pouch is reportedly "suffocating", and may assist in calming bees when raiding beehives.[27]

Dentition of the honey badger

The skull greatly resembles a larger version of that of a marbled polecat.[28] The dental formula is: 3.1.3.13.1.3.1. The teeth often display signs of irregular development, with some teeth being exceptionally small, set at unusual angles or absent altogether. Honey badgers of the subspecies signata have a second lower molar on the left side of their jaws, but not the right. Although it feeds predominantly on soft foods, the honey badger's cheek teeth are often extensively worn. The canine teeth are exceptionally short for carnivores.[29] The papillae of the tongue are sharp and pointed, which assists in processing tough foods.[30]

The winter fur is long, being 40–50 mm (1.6–2.0 in) long on the lower back, and consists of sparse, coarse, bristle-like hairs, with minimal underfur. Hairs are even sparser on the flanks, belly and groin. The summer fur is shorter (being only 15 mm (0.59 in) long on the back) and even sparser, with the belly being half bare. The sides of the head and lower body are pure black. A large white band covers the upper body, from the top of the head to the base of the tail.[31] Honey badgers of the cottoni subspecies are unique in being completely black.[13]

Distribution and habitat

Honey badger in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

The honey badger ranges through most of sub-Saharan Africa, from the Western Cape, South Africa, to southern Morocco and southwestern Algeria and outside Africa through Arabia, Iran, and Western Asia to Turkmenistan and the Indian Peninsula. It is known to range from sea level to as much as 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the Moroccan High Atlas and 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains.[1]

Behaviour and ecology

Adult carrying a pup in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa

The honey badger is mostly solitary, but has also been sighted in Africa to hunt in pairs during the breeding season in May. It also uses old burrows of aardvark, warthog and termite mounds.[30] It is a skilled digger, able to dig tunnels into hard ground in 10 minutes. These burrows usually have only one entry, are usually only 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) long with a nesting chamber that is not lined with any bedding.[32]

The honey badger is notorious for its strength, ferocity and toughness. It is known to savagely and fearlessly attack almost any other species when escape is impossible, reportedly even repelling much larger predators such as lion and hyena.[33] Bee stings, porcupine quills, and animal bites rarely penetrate their skin. If horses, cattle, or Cape buffalos intrude upon a honey badger's burrow, it will attack them.[29] In the Cape Province it is a potential prey species of the African leopard[34][35] and African rock pythons.[8][36]

Diet

Indian honey badger drinks from a natural stream

The honey badger has the least specialised diet of the weasel family next to the wolverine.[17] It accesses a large part of its food by digging it out of burrows.[8] It often raids beehives in search of both bee larvae and honey.[37] It also feeds on insects, frogs, tortoises, turtles, lizards, rodents, snakes, birds and eggs. It also eats berries, roots and bulbs.[8] When foraging for vegetables, it lifts stones or tears bark from trees. Some individuals have even been observed to chase away lion cubs from kills.[30] It devours all parts of its prey, including skin, hair, feathers, flesh and bones, holding its food down with its forepaws.[38] It feeds on a wide range of vertebrates and seems to subsist primarily on small vertebrates. Honey badgers studied in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park preyed largely on geckos and skinks (47.9% of prey species), gerbils and mice (39.7% of prey). The bulk of its prey comprised species weighing more than 100 g (3.5 oz) such as cobras, young African rock python and South African springhare.[39] In the Kalahari, honey badgers were also observed to attack domestic sheep and goats, as well as kill and eat black mambas.[36][40] A honey badger was suspected to have broken up the shells of tent tortoises in the Nama Karoo.[41] In India, honey badgers are said to dig up human corpses.[42]

Despite popular belief, there is no evidence that honeyguides guide the honey badger.[43]

Reproduction

Little is known of the honey badger's breeding habits. Its gestation period is thought to last six months, usually resulting in two cubs, which are born blind. Its lifespan in the wild is unknown, though captive individuals have been known to live for approximately 24 years.[10] The voice of the honey badger is a hoarse "khrya-ya-ya-ya" sound. When mating, males emit loud grunting sounds.[44] Cubs vocalise through plaintive whines.[10] When confronting dogs, honey badgers scream like bear cubs.[45]

Relationships with humans

Honey badgers often become serious poultry predators. Because of their strength and persistence, they are difficult to deter. They are known to rip thick planks from hen-houses or burrow underneath stone foundations. Surplus killing is common during these events, with one incident resulting in the death of 17 Muscovy ducks and 36 chickens.[30]

Because of the toughness and looseness of their skin, honey badgers are very difficult to kill with dogs. Their skin is hard to penetrate, and its looseness allows them to twist and turn on their attackers when held. The only safe grip on a honey badger is on the back of the neck. The skin is also tough enough to resist several machete blows. The only sure way of killing them quickly is through a blow to the skull with a club or a shot to the head with a gun, as their skin is almost impervious to arrows and spears.[46]

During the British occupation of Basra in 2007, rumours of "man-eating badgers" emerged from the local population, including allegations that these beasts were released by the British troops, something that the British categorically denied.[47][48] A British army spokesperson said that the badgers were "native to the region but rare in Iraq" and "are usually only dangerous to humans if provoked".[49]

The honey badger has also been reported to dig up human corpses in India.[11] In Kenya, the honey badger is a major reservoir of rabies[50][51] and is suspected to be a significant contributor to the sylvatic cycle of the disease.[52]

References

  1. ^ a b Do Linh San, E.; Begg, C.; Begg, K. & Abramov, A.V. (2016). "Mellivora capensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T41629A45210107. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41629A45210107.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Schreber, J. C. D. (1777). "Das Stinkbinksen". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Wolfgang Walther. pp. 450–451.
  3. ^ Storr, G. C. C. (1780). "Mellivorae". Prodromus methodi mammalium. Tübingen: Reiss. p. 34.
  4. ^ Gray, J. E. (1865). "Revision of the genera and species of Mustelidae contained in the British Museum". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 100–154.
  5. ^ Koepfli KP, Deere KA, Slater GJ, et al. (2008). "Multigene phylogeny of the Mustelidae: Resolving relationships, tempo and biogeographic history of a mammalian adaptive radiation". BMC Biol. 6: 4–5. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-6-10. PMC 2276185. PMID 18275614.
  6. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 1209–1210
  7. ^ Valenciano, A.; Govender, R. (July 2020). "New fossils of Mellivora benfieldi (Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae) from Langebaanweg, 'E' Quarry (South Africa, Early Pliocene) : re-evaluation of the African Neogene Mellivorines". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (4): e1817754. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1817754. S2CID 227249176.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Vanderhaar, J. M. & Yeen Ten Hwang (2003). "Mellivora capensis" (PDF). Mammalian Species (721): 1–8. doi:10.1644/0.721.1.
  9. ^ Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Species Mellivora capensis". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 612. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  10. ^ a b c Rosevear 1974, p. 123
  11. ^ a b Pocock, R. I. (1941). "Mellivora capensis (Schreber)". Fauna of British India. Vol. Volume 2. Mammals. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 456–466.
  12. ^ Pocock 1941, p. 462
  13. ^ a b c d e Rosevear 1974, pp. 126–127
  14. ^ Pocock, I. R. (1946). "External and cranial characters of some rare Asiatic mammals recently exhibited by the Society". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 115 (3–4): 310–318. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1946.tb00094.x.
  15. ^ Baryshnikov, G. (2000). "A new subspecies of the honey badger Mellivora capensis from Central Asia". Acta Theriologica. 45 (1): 45–55. doi:10.4098/AT.arch.00-5.
  16. ^ a b c Rosevear 1974, p. 113
  17. ^ a b c Kingdon 1989, p. 87
  18. ^ Lenain, D. & Ostrowski, S. (1998). "Opportunistic predation of trapped mammals by the ratel, Mellivora capensis wilsoni". Zoology in the Middle East. 16 (1): 13–18. doi:10.1080/09397140.1998.10637750.
  19. ^ Wroe, S. & Milne, N. (2007). "Convergence and remarkably consistent constraint in the evolution of carnivore skull shape". Evolution. 61 (5): 1251–1260. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00101.x. PMID 17492976.
  20. ^ Sheppey, K. & Bernard, R. T. F. (1984). "Relative brain size in the mammalian carnivores of the Cape Province of South Africa". African Zoology. 19 (4): 305–308. doi:10.1080/02541858.1984.11447899. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  21. ^ Ahasan, S. A.; Iqbal, M. S. & Shakif-Ul-Azam, M. (2010). "Prevalence of parasitic infestations in captive wild carnivores at Dhaka Zoo" (PDF). Zoo's Print. 25 (6): 34.
  22. ^ Kowalczyk, R.; Jȩdrzejewska, B. & Zalewski, A. (2003). "Annual and circadian activity patterns of badgers (Meles meles) in Białowieża Primeval Forest (eastern Poland) compared with other Palaearctic populations" (PDF). Journal of Biogeography. 30 (3): 463–472. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2003.00804.x. S2CID 56433126.
  23. ^ Mohammed, A. H. S.; Haider, S. K. & Salman, R. A. (2014). "Morphological study of the lingual papillae in Mellivora capensis tongue" (PDF). Journal of US-China Medical Science. 11 (1): 42–46.
  24. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 1216–1217
  25. ^ Pocock 1941, p. 456
  26. ^ Ewer 1973, p. 98
  27. ^ Kingdon 1989, p. 89
  28. ^ Pocock 1941, p. 1214
  29. ^ a b Rosevear 1974, pp. 114–16
  30. ^ a b c d Rosevear 1974, pp. 117–118
  31. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, p. 1213
  32. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, p. 1225
  33. ^ Hunter, L. (2011). Carnivores of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15228-8.
  34. ^ Braczkowski, A.; Watson, L.; Coulson, D.; Randall, R. (2012). "Diet of leopards in the southern Cape, South Africa". African Journal of Ecology. 50 (3): 377–380.
  35. ^ Hayward, M. W.; Henschel, P.; O'Brien, J.; Hofmeyr, M.; Balme, G.; Kerley, G. I. H. (2006). "Prey preferences of the leopard (Panthera pardus)" (PDF). Journal of Zoology. 270 (2): 298–313. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00139.x.
  36. ^ a b Begg, C. M. (2001). Feeding ecology and social organisation of honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) in the southern Kalahari (Doctoral dissertation). Pretoria: University of Pretoria.
  37. ^ Stievater, B. (26 June 2019). "Beehive Fences to Deter Both Elephants and Honey Badgers". wildnet.org. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  38. ^ Rosevear 1974, p. 120
  39. ^ Begg, C. M.; Begg, K. S.; Du Toit, J. T.; Mills, M. G. L. (2003). "Sexual and seasonal variation in the diet and foraging behaviour of a sexually dimorphic carnivore, the honey badger (Mellivora capensis)" (PDF). Journal of Zoology. 260 (3): 301–316. doi:10.1017/S0952836903003789. S2CID 59584904. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2020.
  40. ^ Hoesch, W. (1964). "Beobachtungen an einem zahmen Honigdachs (Mellivora capensis)". Zoologischer Garten. 28 (4): 182–188.
  41. ^ Lloyd, P.; Stadler, D. A. (1998). "Predation on the tent tortoise Psammobates tentorius: a whodunit with the honey badger Mellivora capensis as prime suspect". South African Journal of Zoology. 33 (4): 200–202. doi:10.1080/02541858.1998.11448472.
  42. ^ Pocock 1941, p. 464
  43. ^ Dean, W. R. J.; Siegfried, W. R.; MacDonald, I. A. W. (1990). "The Fallacy, Fact, and Fate of Guiding Behavior in the Greater Honeyguide". Conservation Biology. 4 (1): 99–101. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00272.x.
  44. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, p. 1228
  45. ^ Pocock 1941, p. 465
  46. ^ Rosevear 1974, p. 116
  47. ^ Philp, C. (2007). "Bombs, guns, gangs – now Basra falls prey to the monster badger". The Times.
  48. ^ BBC News (12 July 2007) "British blamed for Basra badgers", BBC
  49. ^ Baker, G. (2007). "British troops blamed for badger plague". The Telegraph.
  50. ^ Kruuk, H. (2002). Hunter and Hunted: Relationships between Carnivores and People. Cambridge University Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-521-89109-7.
  51. ^ Chong, W. K. RABIES IN KENYA Archived 13 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Southern and Eastern African Rabies Group
  52. ^ Spinage, C. A. (2012). African Ecology: Benchmarks and Historical Perspectives. Springer. p. 1141. ISBN 978-3-642-22871-1.
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Honey badger: Brief Summary

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The honey badger (Mellivora capensis), also known as the ratel (/ˈrɑːtəl/ or /ˈreɪtəl/), is a mammal widely distributed in Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

It is the only living species in the genus Mellivora and in the mustelid subfamily Mellivorinae. Despite its name, the honey badger does not closely resemble other badger species; instead, it bears more anatomical similarities to weasels. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin, strength and ferocious defensive abilities.

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