Because of the toughness and looseness of their skin, honey badgers are very difficult to kill with dogs. Their skin is hard to penetrate, and its looseness allows them to twist and turn on their attackers when held. The only safe grip on a honey badger is on the back of the neck. The skin is also tough enough to resist several machete blows. The only sure way of killing them quickly is through a blow to the skull with a club or a shot to the head with a powerful rifle, as their skin is almost impervious to arrows and spears.[25]From the cited source:
One of the foremost characteristics of the ratel [honey badger] is its extreme bravery and general toughness. It appears to be quite without fear, and when flight seems of no avail will turn savagely to attack man or any other creature. It can take any amount of punishment and is so tireless in combat that it has been known to exhaust and overcome far larger animals. Indeed, one is said to have killed a buffalo in the Kruger National Park.Sweet chocolate christ, they're insane.
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How impenetrable the skin is is illustrated by an account given by T. Rawson-Shaw (in Fleetwood, 1958) in which he relates that blows from a matchet "would would have cut any other animal of that size in half merely bounced off, leaving a shallow gash on his hide, and it took about ten of these and four .22 bullets to kill it".
Others have found much the same; and it is commonly held that a direct shot in the head from a fairly powerful rifle is the only certain way of killing a honey badger. In the Bauchi area of Northern Nigeria it was well known that arrows and spears were almost useless and that the best, indeed reputedly only, way of certainly killing one of these animals was to club it over the back of the head.
In tussles with dogs it is usually the ratel that succeeds in sinking its teeth into its opponent, hanging on tirelessly, with jaws clenched like a vice, despite being banged on the ground or against trees or rocks, and finally, when the dog is completely exhausted, making off apparently none the worse for the experience. Sikes (1964a) found that, in play, a captive ratel being swung round hanging on to a sack actually appeared to enjoy being bumped roughly up and down on the ground.
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In captivity, as in the wild, ratels can with some abruptness work themselves up into an ecstatic fury. During such a bout the hair stands on end, the animal foams at the mouth and becomes almost literally blind to any external calming influence.
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Tortoises present no difficulty to this animal which can readily crush the shells with its very powerful jaws. Snakes also are taken, including highly poisonous ones; and that they are not always of small size is shown by an extraordinary record in Africa Wild Life, 1964, 18 : 27 which tells of a ratel fighting, killing and feeding on a python some 10 or 11 feet long. The beginning of this exceedingly noisy and energetic combat was not seen, but the battle must have continued for some half an hour, at the end of which the snake "was so mutilated that it looked as if it had been run over by a train".
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Unable to get in [to a hen house] any other way, tunnelled under the wall and up through the floor, which was paved with large stones set in mud mortar. ... Once entrance has been effected to a fowl-house it often happens that everything inside is slaughtered and eaten, nothing beyond a few scattered feathers remaining.
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Sking, hair, feathers and bones of a victim are all eaten as well as the flesh.
"They have no regard for any other animal whatsoever".posted by memebake at 5:08 AM on February 16, 2011 [4 favorites]
Actually that's true with one exception, their only friend is the honey-guide bird. They always leave some larvae for the bird after they raid a bee hive.
Honeyguide birds exhibit a unique pattern by calling out loudly and chattering that attracts the badger's attention.
Then flies ahead, toward the bees' nest, making sure the badger is following.
And they eat everything in the hive, honey, wax, and larvae.
just took a nap…This is the Chuck Norris of badgers.The honey badger does not nap. It waits.
Jack jumper ants are carnivores and scavengers. They sting their victims with venom that is similar to stings of wasps, bees, and fire ants. Their venom is one of the most powerful in the insect world. Jack jumper ants are proven hunters; even wasps are hunted and devoured. These ants have excellent vision, which aids them in hunting.posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:32 AM on February 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
The symptoms of the stings of the ants are similar to stings of the fire ants. The reaction is local swelling and reddening, and fever, followed by formation of a blister. The heart rate increases, and blood pressure falls rapidly. In individuals allergic to the venom (about 3% of cases), a sting sometimes causes anaphylactic shock.[1] Although 3% may seem small, jack jumper ants cause more deaths in Tasmania than spiders, snakes, wasps, and sharks combined.[2]
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posted by phaedon at 10:29 PM on February 15, 2011 [2 favorites]