Honey badger

The Honey Badger (Mellivora Capensis) is said to be the most fearsome, vicious, and brave animal that there is in the entire Animal Kingdom. Here are some of the many interesting facts that you will learn while reading this paper about the Honey Badger. The Honey Badger is originally from Africa and they like to live in the dessert. They will eat almost any meat that they find, even if it poisonous. They are the predators and very rarely the prey. The Honey Badgers fur is very long during the winter and consists of sparse, coarse, bristle-like hairs lacking underfur. The Honey Badger has short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot. Honey Badgers are immune to even the deadliest of snake poisons. They are also immune to bee stings. They are not afraid of anything and they have proven that. Honey Badgers can live 7 to 8 years in the wild, and 24 to 26 years in captivity. Roughly half of the cubs (baby Honey Badgers) will survive to adulthood. When a cub is being raised it is raised only by its mother because the male Honey Badger will come to mate with a female Honey Badger and after they are done matting the male Honey Badger will leave. Male Honey Badgers maintain a home range that can be as broad as 200 square miles while the females will normally have smaller home ranges that are around 50 square miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_badger

http://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Mellivora_capensis.html

Body Design
The Honey Badger has short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot. Each toe has a very sharp claw. Their front feet are very useful for running and grabbing prey because they are strong and wide with larger claws. Its back legs are smaller and have shorter claws then the front legs do. A Honey Badgers skin is very thick and very loose which makes it easy for them to be able to twist and turn to claw and bite their predator. Their skin also makes it very difficult for a predator to get a good firm grip on them. Adults can measure from 9.1 to 11.0 inches in shoulder height and 22 to 30 inches in body length. They also have a tail that can be 4.7 to 11.8 inches long. Honey Badgers can weigh from about 17 1/2 pounds to roughly about 26 1/2 pounds.

The Honey Badgers fur is very long during the winter and consists of sparse, coarse, bristle-like hairs lacking underfur. On its flanks, belly, and groin its hairs are even sparser. During the summer its hair is shorter and even sparser. A large white band covers the Honey Badgers upper body, beginning from the very top of there heads and going down to the very base of there tales. While the sides of the Honey Badgers head and lower body are pure black.

http://www.honeybadger.com/#

Life Cycle
Honey Badgers will breed anywhere from every 14 months to every 24 months. They can breed any time year round but it is most common for them to breed during the months from September all the way to December. The number of cubs (baby Honey Badger) they will have at one time is 1 to 2 but most of the time they only have one at a time. When they are born they will have a gestation period of 50 days to 70 days. A mother will carry her cub in her mouth for the first 2 to 3 months of their life. During those 2 to 3 months the cub will not leave its hole/den on its own. A mother and her cub will sleep in a new hole or den either every day or every other day. Cubs will start to become independent after being with their mother for 12 to 22 months after being born. When they are born they are blind and naked. Honey Badgers can live 7 to 8 years in the wild due to injuries and the few predators that will attack them, and 24 to 26 years in captivity. Roughly only half of the cubs will survive to adulthood. When a cub is being raised it is only raised by its mother. Sometimes cubs will even be killed by other male Honey Badgers.

http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/carnivores/badger_honey.html

Ecology


The Honey Badger is known to inhabit Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Arabia, Iran, Western Asia, Indian Peninsula, Turkmenistan, and Western Cape. They move around and forage at night, and will dig burrows as much as 9 feet long and 5 feet deep to sleep during the day. They are opportunistic and can adapt itself to all types of ranges such as grasslands, deserts, and mountains, etc. But they prefer to live in the drier areas such as the dessert.

The Honey Badger is part of the weasel family, related to animals such as skunks, ferrets, and other types of badgers. Honey Badgers are mostly solitary animals with the exception of a mother and her young cub. Male Honey Badgers can maintain a home range as broad as 200 square miles while the females will have smaller home ranges that are roughly 50 square miles.

http://animals.pawnation.com/honey-badger-habitats-6089.html

Reproduction/Breeding
Honey Badgers do not have any specific breeding seasons because they can breed anytime year round. Honey Badgers normally will only raise one cub (baby Honey Badger) at a time. Cubs are born blind and naked when they are born. They will be carried around in their mothers mouth until they can walk and leave their den which is about 3 months after being born. That is when the baby cub will start to accompany its mother on foraging trips. A cubs mantle is usually far whiter than its mothers mantle. Cubs will become independent after being with their mothers for 14 months. During these 14 months cubs will learn how to efficiently hunt, to dig holes, and climb trees with co-ordination. Female cubs stop growing around the time when they start to become independent. While male cubs will continue to grow, even after they start to become independent. Male cubs will also stay in their mothers territory for a few months after they become independent.

http://www.honeybadger.com/breeding.html

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41629/0

Behavior and Diet
Honey Badgers are carnivores that are very solitary. A male will find a female and mate with her before they go their separate ways. This is because the male Honey Badger does not take part in raising a cub. During the summer Honey Badgers are nocturnal while during the winter they are diabolical. Honey Badgers will often sleep in a different hole or den every night. Sometimes they will just dig there own hole too sleep in. While other times they will use other animals holes.

http://www.honeybadger.com/social.html

Honey Badgers are carnivores with a very large diet that is made from a large range of food. Their diet can consist of insect larvae, beetles, scorpions, lizards, rodents, and any bird that they can catch, etc. Some of the larger Prey that they will hunt and eat are large reptiles such as leguaans, crocodiles, and pythons. They will even hunt and eat the very dangerous and venomous snakes like cobras, black mambas, and many more snakes. They will even hunt large mammals like the springhare, polecats, foxes, coyotes, jackals, antelope, and different wild cats. Honey Badgers will sometimes even steal food right out of the the mouth of a hungry lion and get away with it.

Honey Badgers will dig as many as 50 holes while hunting for prey. They are also very skilled at climbing things such as trees. They will even climb to the very top of a tree to steal from bird nests and even bee hives. Honey Badgers do like to eat honey but they prefer to eat "bee brood" and will go to very great lengths to get it. Honey Badgers can do this because they can be stung hundreds of times and not even be effected, although they can still be stung to death.

http://www.honeybadger.com/diet.html