The honey badger

The honey badger

Area: Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, and India

Habitat: Grasslands, forests, mountains, and deserts

Food: Snakes, scorpions, birds, insects, small mammals, vegetation, and fruits

Size: 29 to 38 inches long, plus 5 to 9 inches for tail

Babies: Usually 1 born at a time. Babies are called cubs.

Have No Fear

The honey badger, also known as a ratel, is a strong, smart, and fierce mammal. Its stocky, flattened body has short, strong legs and claws on the front feet that are perfectly suited for digging.

They are pros at making burrows to sleep in. Also, underground insects and rodents don't stand a chance of escape when a honey badger digs after them! In fact, keepers at the Safari Park even reinforced the area under the home of Benzy, their honey badger animal ambassador, so she wouldn't be able to dig her way out.

The honey badger’s coat is thick and coarse, mostly black, with a wide, grayish-white stripe along its back from head to tail tip. Does that remind you of another animal? That's right, a skunk! And they don't just look like a skunk, they can stink like one, too. When a predator like a lion, leopard, or hyena tries to attack a honey badger, it releases a "stink bomb" that helps keep trouble away.

That two-tone coat covers skin that also helps the animal survive. Not only is its skin tough, it’s loose enough that a honey badger can turn around in it and bite its attacker. And speaking of bites, the honey badger can survive the bites of some very dangerous creatures. They eat scorpions and snakes, and they have an unusually strong immunity to venom. That means that even if the scorpion stings or the snake bites it, the honey badger doesn't die as other animals might.