The honey badger (Mellivora capensis), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed across Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the sole living representative of the Mellivorinae subfamily of the Mustelidae. It has a fairly long body, with a distinctly thick-set and broad back, and remarkably loose skin, allowing the badger to turn and twist freely within it. The largest terrestrial mustelid in Africa, the honey badger measures 55 to 77 cm (22 to 30 in) long and weighs up to 16 kg (35 lb). Sexual dimorphism has been recorded in this species, with males being larger and heavier than females. It has two pairs of mammae, and an eversible anal pouch. The honey badger is a solitary animal that can be active at any time of day, depending on the location. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin, strength and ferocious defensive abilities. Adults maintain large home ranges, and display scent-marking behavior. The species has no fixed breeding period. After a gestation of 50–70 days, a female will give birth to an average of one to two cubs that will remain under her care for 1–1+1⁄4 years. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular media, the honey badger is best known as an aggressive, intelligent animal that is fearless and tough in nature.
Taxonomy Viverra capensis was the scientific name used by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1777 who described a honey badger skin from the Cape of Good Hope. Mellivorae was proposed as name for the genus by Gottlieb Conrad Christian Storr in 1780, while Mellivorina was proposed as a tribe name by John Edward Gray in 1865. The honey badger is the only living species of the genus Mellivora. Although in the 1860s it was assigned to the badger subfamily, the Melinae, it is now generally agreed that it bears few similarities to the Melinae. It is much more closely related to the marten subfamily, Guloninae, and furthermore is assigned its own subfamily, Mellivorinae.
Subspecies In the 19th and 20th centuries, 16 zoological specimens of the honey badger were described and proposed as subspecies. Points taken into consideration in assigning different subspecies include size and the extent of whiteness or greyness on the back. As of 2005, 12 subspecies are recognised as valid taxa:
Evolution The species first appeared during the middle Pliocene in Asia. A number of extinct relatives are known dating back at least 7 million years to the Late Miocene. These include Mellivora benfieldi from South Africa and Italy, Promellivora from Pakistan, and Howellictis from Chad. More distant relatives include Eomellivora, which evolved into several different species in both the Old and New Worlds, and the giant, long-legged Ekorus from Kenya.
Etymology The genus name, Mellivora, is derived from Latin, meaning "honey eater", while the species name, capensis, pertains to the location where the type specimen was discovered: the Cape of Good Hope. The origin of the word ratel is uncertain, but is thought to either be derived from ratel, which is Dutch for rattle or from the Dutch word raat, meaning honeycomb.
Description
The honey badger has a fairly long body but is distinctly thick-set and broad across the back. Its skin is remarkably loose, and allows the animal to turn and twist freely within it. The skin around the neck is 6 mm (0.24 in) thick, an adaptation to fighting conspecifics. The head is small and flat, with a short muzzle. The eyes are small, and the ears are little more than ridges on the skin, another possible adaptation to avoiding damage while fighting. The honey badger has short and sturdy legs, with five toes on each foot. The feet are armed with very strong claws, which are short on the hind legs and remarkably long on the forelimbs. It is a partially plantigrade animal whose soles are thickly padded and naked up to the wrists. The tail is short and is covered in long hairs, save for below the base. The honey badger is the largest terrestrial mustelid in Africa. Adults measure 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11.0 in) in shoulder height and 55–77 cm (22–30 in) in body length, with the tail adding another 12–30 cm (4.7–11.8 in). Females are smaller than males. In Africa, males weigh 9 to 16 kg (20 to 35 lb) while females weigh 5 to 10 kg (11 to 22 lb) on average. The mean weight of adult honey badgers from different areas has been reported at anywhere between 6.4 to 12 kg (14 to 26 lb), with a median of roughly 9 kg (20 lb), per various studies. This positions it as the third largest known badger, after the European badger and hog badger, and fourth largest extant terrestrial mustelid after additionally the wolverine. However, the average weight of three wild females from Iraq was reported as 18 kg (40 lb), about the typical weight of male wolverines or male European badgers in late autumn, indicating that they can attain much larger than typical sizes in favourable conditions. However, an adult female and two males in India were relatively small weighing 6.4 kg (14 lb) and a median of 8.4 kg (19 lb). Skull length is 13.9–14.5 cm (5.5–5.7 in) in males and 13 cm (5.1 in) for females. The honey badger has two pairs of mammae. It has an eversible anal pouch, a trait shared with hyenas and mongooses. The smell of the pouch is reportedly "suffocating" and may assist in calming bees when raiding beehives.
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