If Russia's most famous lover destroy bee hives and enjoy Medcom considered to bear, in Africa and Asia is having fun doing honey badger - a predatory animal, bold and lovely.There are two other common name of a mammal: bald badger and Ratel.This species belongs to the weasel family, it stands out as a separate genus and subfamily.
Description
animal looks like a honey badger badger and wolverine.Ratel's body is covered with dense harsh hair, the upper part of the body and the head is white with a slight reddish tinge, and the lower part, including the legs and tail, all black.Interestingly, in the African jungle you can find rare specimens of pure black color.
honey badger - an animal, a photo of which is shown below, not very large animal.Build it strong and stocky, with short limbs and a bushy tail.On the powerful front legs are long sharp claws to help dig and deftly climb trees.The head mammal wide, pointed snout with a short nose and small eyes, ears do not stand out.Males slightly larger and heavier than the females: body length (not counting the 25-centimeter tail) of about 80 cm, weight - 7-13 kilograms.
honey badger - an animal with an incredibly thick skin, through which he spared the annoying insect bites.Yet it sometimes helps small animal escape from large predators.
The honey badger eats
bald badger lives in forests, mountain and steppe areas, sometimes able to watch it at an altitude of three thousand meters.Honey badger - an animal, a description (for children), which emphasizes its special "weakness" to honey.In fact, he loves to eat honey and bee larvae, which causes him to ruthlessly plunder the hives.However, most animals are not afraid of hundreds of angry stinging insects, because it is protected by a thick skin.
Yet the main diet of the animals make honey badger, because he is quite aggressive and brave predator capable of attacking without fear even buffalo, far superior in size.Normal food bald badger - a variety of rodents such as mice, hamsters, rats, ground squirrels and other inhabitants of its territory.Hunts Ratel on snakes, lizards, frogs, sea urchins, turtles and birds.
fearless creature can attack even the cobra!It makes it very cleverly.And immediately starts to eat a poisonous snake, despite the dangerous bites.However, after a few minutes honey badger falls dead under the influence of cobra venom and remains "sedated" from 40 minutes to two hours, and then, as if nothing had happened and stands it eats its prey.The fact that honey badger bite of this snake is not fatal, but causes severe pain and temporary paralysis.Then the killer snake feels healthy.And the inhabitants of Central Asia can eat poisonous scorpions.Berries and plant foods rarely become bald badger food.
faithful friend - medoukazchik
interesting fact is "mutually beneficial cooperation" predator with a small bird - medoukazchikom that detects bee nests and feeds prearranged signal-whistle Ratel that he climbed and destroyed them.Birds fly from branch to branch, and the gourmet is on the ground, following her.It turns out, the secret lies in the fact that medoukazchik loves bee larvae, which can not produce on their own.And then it comes to the aid of brave honey badger, whose interests coincide with those tricky birds.
Lifestyle honey badger, honey badger hunter
- animal, leading a solitary lifestyle, the majority of the weasel.It hunts at night, going out to fish at dusk.During the day it is active only in the mating season, and daylight can be found only in the quiet secluded places in the cool weather.
mammal has excellent hearing, sight and touch that helps him to be a great hunter.It's amazing, but the potential victim feels honey badger, even at a depth of half a meter under the ground.He quickly breaks the ground and choking caught prey.In pursuit of the bald badger quite a few jumps to catch small rodents or other food.The site is carefully guarded each one individually from their counterparts.
Fed honey badger rest in the excavated hole, the depth of the refuge can reach two to three meters.At one site may be several of these holes, in the depths of that cozy nest, covered with grass and leaves.Varieties of African bald badgers can arrange the nest in tree hollows.
marriage between honey badger and care for offspring
honey badger - an animal as described above, meets with individuals of the opposite sex only during the mating season and then again sent to a site where the rest of the year is the usual solitary life.The female takes about six months on nurturing their young.Typically, the light appears 1-3 puppy that the first 14 days of life are in a deep hole.The mother takes care of the offspring, and not leave children until they reach the age of one year.
honey badger - animal selflessly defend their young.Female fighting for his life and safety of puppies can boldly pounce on such a large predator like a lion.Other serious enemies at Ratel not, and the animal can cause severe damage with sharp teeth and claws of an animal attacked first.
honey badger pest
One animal honey badger settles quite an extensive area, so to meet him is not easy.People perceive bald as a badger malicious pest, as it often cuts livestock, ruining chicken coops, bee destroys the nest.In the villages on the honey badger set traps and poisoned baits that in some regions, particularly South Africa, resulted in the reduction of the population of this predator, even though honey badger is not endangered.
In general, today the image of a bald badger life in nature is not well studied.There is not even accurate information about the lifespan of the mammal.It is known that in a zoo honey badger can live 25 years.
