How old is the honey badger

Besides this honey badger-like animal, this 5. Credit: Romala Govender. Living honey badger also known as ratel Mellivora capensis belong to the mustelid family which includes weasels, otters and badgers. Despite its relatively small size kg , honey badgers are one of the most aggressive and fierce animals in the world. Honey badgers are equipped with sharp teeth and long claws to help capture prey, but they also feed on berries, roots and bulbs, insects and small vertebrates.

The extinct honey badger from Langebaanweg Mellivora benfieldi was originally described by Brett Hendey more than 40 years ago and was based on a few fragmented mandibles. This work deals with the evolution of this fascinating group of mustelids in Africa during the last seven million years and confirm the existence of a unique group named Eomellivorini. The animals generally expel the substance to mark their territory, but they will also release a "stink bomb" when threatened or frightened.

Jonathan Kingdon, a zoologist at the University of Oxford, said in his book " East African Mammals " The University of Chicago Press, that this liquid may have a calming effect on bees, allowing honey badgers to more safely raid beehives.

Honey badgers are omnivores , feasting on a wide range of food, including birds, reptiles, rodents, berries, roots and fruits. Their keen sense of smell helps them sniff out food hidden underground, while their long, strong claws help them dig for or catch that food, then rip their meal into pieces. They aren't picky eaters and will scavenge whatever they can; three honey badgers have been seen chasing seven adult lions away from their kill, according to the BBC documentary.

Honey badgers are ferocious hunters, known to take on powerful animals, such as the South African oryx, a large, horned antelope that's more than 10 times the size of a honey badger. They're also persistent hunters, willing to travel 20 miles 32 kilometers in their pursuit of a meal, the BBC documentary reported. Although honey badgers are named after their presumed fondness for honey , they're actually interested in the bee larvae found in honey rather than the sugary syrup itself. The small mammals love bee larvae so much that they'll tolerate hundreds of stings from angry bees to get their claws on the sweet stuff.

But not all raids are successful — desperate honey badgers have been found stung to death in large beehives, according to National Geographic. Related: Honey badger takes on an antelope, and it doesn't go well. As fearless predators, honey badgers won't hesitate to take down scorpions or venomous snakes for dinner.

However, those meals fight back, and the honey badger may receive a mean bite or sting from its prey, such as the highly venomous Cape cobra Naja nivea , whose venom can temporarily knock out a honey badger.

But after a couple of hours, the honey badger wakes up and continues its meal if the meal hasn't already left. And in order to dine on venomous snakes, which would be an otherwise deadly meal option for most carnivores, honey badgers have evolved a special kind of immunity to the toxins in snake venom. In their study published in the journal Toxicon , Drabeck and her colleagues found that honey badgers have evolved a series of genetic mutations that prohibit snake venom toxin from binding to cellular receptors that would signal their nervous system to shut down.

A similar venom-defense mechanism has evolved in other mammals that share habitat with venomous snakes, including mongooses, hedgehogs and even wild pigs. Honey badgers have few natural predators, but they are occasionally hunted by leopards, lions and hyenas, Slate Magazine reported. However, the honey badger's aggressive nature does not make them an easy meal, and given the honey badger's small size, predators' efforts are often better spent catching an easier meal with more meat. These incredibly tough and hardy creatures adapt well to a variety of habitats and can live just as well in a rainforest as they can in the mountains.

Typically, honey badgers have large home ranges of about square miles square km , according to National Geographic. Honey badgers are territorial creatures and will use their scent glands to mark their territory. Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem. Paid Content How Hong Kong protects its sea sanctuaries. History Magazine These 3,year-old giants watched over the cemeteries of Sardinia.

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