Honey badger

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The **honey badger**  or **ratel** (*Mellivora capensis*) is a type of mustelid. It lives in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.

Despite its name, the honey badger does not look much like other types of badgers. It looks more like a weasel. It mostly eats meat, and does not have many predators because of its thick skin and tough defensive ability.

## Taxonomy 
The honey badger is the only member of the genus *Mellivora*. Although it was first put to the badger group in the 1860s, they do not have much in common with the subfamily *Melinae*. They are closer to the marten family.

## Physical description 
The honey badger has a fairly long body, but is thick set and broad across the back. Its skin is loose, and lets it to turn and twist freely within it. Males weigh  while females weigh 9.1&nbsp;kg.

The honey badger has an anal pouch, a trait shared with hyenas. The smell of the pouch is said to be "suffocating", and may help calm bees when raiding beehives.

### Fur 
Its winter fur is long, with some coarse, bristle-like hairs. There are fewer hairs on the side, belly, and groin. The summer fur is shorter and has even fewer hairs, with the belly being half bare. The sides of the heads and lower body are pure black in colour. A large white band covers their upper bodies, beginning from the top of their heads down to the base of their tails.

## Habits 
Honey badgers live alone in self-dug holes. They are good diggers, being able to dig tunnels into hard ground in 10&nbsp;minutes. These burrows always only have one passage and a nesting chamber and are usually not large, about 1–3&nbsp;metres long. They do not put bedding in the nesting chamber. Although they usually dig their own burrows, they may take over aardvark and warthog holes that are no longer being used, or termite mounds.

Honey badgers are fearless and tough animals. They are known to savagely attack their enemies when they cannot escape. They are tireless in combat and can wear out much larger animals in fights. This would be an example of mimicry.

The voice of the honey badger is a hoarse "*khrya-ya-ya-ya*" sound. When mating, males make loud grunting sounds.

### Diet
Honey badgers have the least specialised diet among mustelids. They devour all parts of their prey, including skin, hair, feathers, flesh and bones, holding their food down with their forepaws. When seeking vegetable food, they lift stones or tear bark from trees.

## Range 
The species can be found through most of Sub-Saharan Africa from the Western Cape, South Africa, to southern Morocco and southwestern Algeria. Outside Africa it lives through Arabia, Iran and western Asia to Turkmenistan and the Indian subcontinent.

## Relationships with humans 
Honey badgers often kill chickens that humans are raising for food. Because of their strength and persistence, they are difficult to keep away. They are known to rip thick planks from hen-houses or burrow underneath stone foundations.

Because of their tough, loose skin, honey badgers are difficult to kill with dogs. Their skin is hard to get through, 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 proof against arrows and spears.

## References 
## Other websites
* Vanderhaar, Jane M. ; Hwang, Yeen Ten, *Mellivora capensis*, Published 30 July 2003 by the American Society of Mammalogists