Beastfile · Mammals
Honey Badger
Mellivora capensis
Also known as Ratel
Loose skin, a bad attitude, and genuine resistance to cobra venom.
Overview
The honey badger’s reputation is mostly earned, and the reasons are structural. Its skin is thick and remarkably loose, so an animal that grabs it finds the badger able to rotate inside its own hide and bite back. It also carries a mutation in the receptor that snake neurotoxins target, the same adaptation the mongoose has, which gives it real resistance to cobra venom rather than simple bravado. It digs constantly, raids bee nests for larvae as much as honey, and has been recorded using objects to climb, which is rare outside the primates and a handful of birds.
Origin
Sub-Saharan Africa through the Arabian peninsula and into southwest Asia and India, across savannah, grassland, desert edge and forest.
Habitat
SavannahNotable Traits
- •Skin loose enough to turn inside its own hide
- •A receptor mutation giving real resistance to snake venom
- •Raids bee nests mainly for the larvae
- •Recorded using objects as tools to climb
- •Digs powerfully with long front claws
Conservation
Least Concern, with a very wide range. Locally it is killed by beekeepers and farmers, and it takes losses from poisoned bait set for other animals.
