Photo of the Week, September 6: The Honey Badger

With all the talk about Honey Badgers recently, I felt it fitting that a blog post be made about them. 

This is the honey badger.  Although slightly resembling the build of the wolverine found in North America, the honey badger, or ratel as they are also known as, are actually closely related to the weasel or polecat.  It is the only member of the genus Mellivora, and so it has no extremely close relatives. 

The honey badger's skin is very loose, allowing the animal to twist and turn freely within it.  They have short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot.  They stand between nine and eleven inches tall at the shoulder and are about 70 cm long.  The honey badger weighs 25-30 lbs. 

The honey badger is a largely solitary animal, though it may hunt in pairs during the May breeding season.  Little is known about the gestation of the honey badger, but it is thought that cubs are carried for 6 months and are born in pairs.  The lifespan of the animal is unknown in the wild, but they have been known to live up to 24 years in captivity. 

In unsettled areas, honey badgers hunt during all times of the day.  However, in the presence of humans, the animals turn nocturnal.  They are primarily carnivores, and eat such things as insects, eggs, tortoises, frogs, lizards, birds, small rodents, scorpions, and carrion.  In certain cases, the honey badger has been known to dig ground squirrels and gerbils out of their dens to eat them.  In India, honey badgers have been known to dig up human corpses.  They devour all parts of their prey, including flesh, bone, hair, feathers, and skin.