# Talk:Honey badger

Please consider adding the following to the pop culture section:

Another professional athlete that has been given the title of Honey Badger is the former Scottish footballer and current manager, Paul Lambert. Affectionately given the nickname by the Ipswich Town podcast, "Kings of Anglia", due to his touchline performance during the 2019 East Anglian derby.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.219.111.2 (talk) 13:51, 20 January 2020 (UTC)

The honey badger is known to be a fearless, ferocious mammal. Their scientific name is Mellivora Capensis. Their size is small, sizing at 9 to 11 inches although badgers can grow up to 20 to 34 inches and weighing from 13 to 39 pounds (Bradford). Their appearances look like clawless otters (Broeckhoven). According to Brookhaven, their skin is hard that it is a challenge for predators to penetrate with their claws and teeth. The physical appearance of a honey badger is resembling to a weasel in size but has a gray pelage on it’s back, but as they get older, it turns white.
	They are in Africa, southwest Asia, and Indian regions as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran. According to the national geographic, since they hold many inhabitants, the International Union for Conservation of nature isn’t too concerned about lack of homes, although the population is decreasing (Bradford). Honey Badgers are very adaptable, they can live in almost any weather condition. They will utilize openings of rocks and trees as shelters as well as other homes of other creatures that have similar shelters. They often are spotted by themselves, but they regularly mate all year round (National Geographic). 
	Honey Badgers are perceived to be very intelligent animals. They can escape from predators as well as confined spaces. According to Garstrong, who runs a rehabilitation facility in a national park located in South Africa, he had built a 6 feet concrete wall surrounding a captured honey badger. On its first night of being capture, the honey badger started climbing the tree that was close to a wall so to bend the branch to touch the wall. Afterward, all trees were removed but the determined honey badger had a branch he kept and started digging and climb out. 
	Honey Badgers are fascinating creatures because, despite their size, they are fearless, which is rare in small creatures because they feel more vulnerable to predators. Honey badgers are known to fight huge animals as a bug as lions to poisonous animals such a venomous snake. They are known to eat insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and other mammals, as well as berries, and other kinds of fruits (Science Direct). They will also steal other animals’ meals too if it’s convenient for them. 	
	Scent marking is a way of communicating with other animals that that territory is taken. A honey badger will mark its territory to reserve resources such as food and shelter. It is usually marked by the secretions of their glands, feces, and urine (C.Kost). Males are usually the ones that do the marking then females, especially if they are dominant. It is unknown as to why they have scent marks, but according to Kost, it could be because they are trying to lure possible intruders away from their homes that way the intruders are able to recognize it’s their territory. Another reason could be that it helps the honey badgers find their homes and potential mates. 

•	National Geographic, page 1, Honey Badger, www.nationalgeographic.com, Accessed on March 2, 2020. 
•	C. Kost, Encyclopedia of Ecology, 2008, www.sciencedirect.com, Accessed on March 3, 2020.
•	Michael Garstang, Elephant Sense and Sensibility, 2015, www.sciencedirect.com, Accessed on March 3, 2020. 
•	Alina Bradford, Facts About Badgers, October 08, 2015, www.livescience.com, Accessed on March 4, 2020.
Rami0411 (talk) 02:59, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

 Not done. It's not clear what changes you want to make. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 03:46, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

"It is also feeds on insects" — that's not correct English.
2001:999:11:93AE:FC40:46EB:CC67:B520 (talk) 12:08, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Honey Badger (men's rights) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you.  —RMCD bot 08:22, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

I thought this statement and reference might be good to add to the article. This gives a good first-hand account of how aggressive and tough the honey badger can be, and unlike most of the statements out there this one comes from an actual biologist in an article published in a reputable scientific journal.
"The biologist Walter W. Dalquest gives first hand account of how resilient and aggressive the honey badger can be during his field work in Mozambique. Dalquest and the expedition attempted to collect an old male honey badger crossing a road, and Dalquest mentions "a charge of shot that should have killed a larger animal only wounded the badger, and it tried to attack anyone approaching it." The honey badger only died after being run over by a jeep, and even then it 
only "died some minutes later, still biting and clawing at the tire"." Dalquest mentions on another occasion that when he came across three honey badgers at night instead of running away the three badgers charged him and a full charge of shot failed to kill one of them. 107.10.239.130 (talk) 07:30, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

I am not sure that these anecdotes will add anything of value to the article. Ruslik_Zero 12:32, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

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 gun, as their skin is almost impervious to arrows and spears
Please remove these lines the organisations are saving honeybadger and here this post clearly shows how to kill an animal who is in red data book that is so carelessly shameful act Bornedwithgrace (talk) 07:04, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

 Not done:  Wikipedia is not censored. That this material "shows how to kill an animal who is in red data book that is so carelessly shameful act" is not a valid reason for its removal. ‑‑Volteer1 (talk) 07:54, 29 March 2021 (UTC)
With all the due respect, the entire article seems to try more to be a guide on how to kill honey badgers rather than being a valuable encyclopedia article. Rather than an objective observation on honey badger it only seems to try to prove that honey badgers are tough little bastards, which, of course they are.
Still, they deserve a better Wikipedia page. 72.183.249.13 (talk) 18:38, 17 July 2022 (UTC)
"with one incident resulting in the death of 17 Muscovy ducks and 36 chickens." sounds completely anecdotal and sensionalist. 72.183.249.13 (talk) 18:43, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

1) Is the detailed description of how to kill one really necessary? Demonstrating the skin's strength can be done in another way; I know about WP:CENSOR but it feels more like a guide (see WP:NOTGUIDE).
2) This could also do with a popular culture section; for example, F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo and rugby player Nick Cummins were both given the nickname. Couruu (talk) 10:01, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

I've rewritten the badly sourced parts. Should be OK now. Tallungs (talk) 02:20, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

There is no citation for the sentence at the end of the introduction and it also lacks a period. Could someone please fix that? I would do it myself but I can’t edit the page since it’s locked 2A04:4A43:459F:DB3B:F5BE:7D41:AE4E:D4A6 (talk) 18:25, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

The sentence: “When foraging for vegetables, it lifts stones or tears bark from trees.” seems inaccurate. Should “vegetables” be replaced with “insects”, perhaps? Ridanger Peacepraise (talk) 01:59, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

The text was added in October 2019. I have no idea but the preceding text talks about eating berries, roots and bulbs. I disabled the edit request because some kind of consensus would be needed first, or at least someone who understands that detail. Johnuniq (talk) 03:58, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
I have deleted the statement as unsourced - it isn't mentioned in either of the other references added in the edit (including the one about eating berries, etc.), so we have no way of telling where it came from, or whether it's accurate. Anaxial (talk) 14:11, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

There’s one fact cited twice from a source in 1941 that honey badgers “are said” to dig up corpses in India.  This seems like popular culture about an “unclean” animal and not the kind of “fact” that should appear twice with the same citation.  In 80 years noone has actually recorded this happening? Why is it on Wikipedia? 2600:1700:F90:6950:954F:265A:9555:FF4C (talk) 22:43, 29 August 2025 (UTC)