The Ratel - also known as Honey Badger
Information kindly provided by the African Wildlife Foundation - The ratel is reported to have the courage of a lion. The small, stock animal has a fondness for honey that accounts for its second name, honey badger.
Physical Characteristics
The ratel has a massive head with a thick skull of compacted bone covered with muscles. The neck and shoulders are well-developed and the strong forelegs are armed with massive claws adapted for digging and excavating. The hind legs are clawless and have less flexibility and power.
| Fact Sheet | |
|---|---|
| Swahili Name: | Nyegere |
| Scientific Name: | Mellivora capensis |
| Size: | 10 inches tall |
| Weight: | 25 or more pounds |
| Lifespan: | Up to 24 years |
| Habitat: | Dense forest to open plains |
| Diet: | Omnivorous |
| Gestation: | 6 months |
| Predators: | Humans |
Habitat
Ratels can tolerate both very wet and very dry habitats. They can be found in moist savannas, semi-deserts and montane forests.
Behaviour
Although the ratel can locate bee nests on its own, it has developed an interesting relationship with small birds called honeyguides. A honeyguide alerts the ratel to its presence by calling repeatedly, displaying the white markings on its tail and making short, swooping flights from tree to tree. The ratel follows the bird, answering its calls with guttural growls until the nest is reached.
The ratel sniffs around until it locates the nest. It emits smelly, almost suffocating secretions from its anus glands to fumigate the hive, much in the same way that human honey-hunters use smoke. The ratel rubs the secretions around the hive, causing most of the bees to flee, and stunning or killing those that remain inside. The ratel bites or claws into the nest and scoops out the honeycomb. Meanwhile, the honeyguide waits in the tree. When the ratel leaves, the bird eats the remaining dead bees, grubs and pieces of honeycomb. This relationship between two very different species indicates their behavior has been learned and developed to increase food supplies for both. (Honeyguides also lead people to bee nests, but the practice is no longer widespread. Some scientists think it will eventually die out for both men and ratels.) Though shy and retiring, the ratel is extremely aggressive and fearless in certain circumstances. Legends abound about the ratel's instinct to go for the groin when attacking. It is said to rush in with tail held high and, with an angry, rattling roar, rip out the testicles of any threatening male animal (whether human, lion or buffalo). There may be a basis for the legends, as adult male buffalo, wildebeest and waterbuck have died from loss of blood after being attacked by a ratel.
Ratels are generally solitary but sometimes go about in pairs, though they are not necessarily mates. Little is known about the ratel's social life. They wander widely over a home range, but males are thought to be territorial. Scent marking is of the greatest importance, and they regularly and liberally apply secretions to crevices, holes and the base of trees.
In uninhabited areas the ratel is diurnal in its habits. In areas near human habitation, it lives an almost entirely nocturnal life.
Diet
The ratel eats a variety of foods, including the young of large mammals, rodents of all sizes, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, fruit and carrion. At certain times of the year the contents of bee nests become its major food source.
Sometimes they raid chicken houses, and if they kill more chickens than they can eat at one time, they bury them and return to eat them later. There are also reports of ratels scavenging, and even chasing young lions away from their kills. The ratel has a slow, rather bow-legged lumbering gait that sometimes increases to a clumsy gallop. Its great endurance, however, allows it to run larger prey to exhaustion.
Caring for the young
One to four young are born in a chamber or burrow lined with grass or leaves. The young probably remain close to the home burrow for a long time, as sightings of adults with small young are rare.
Predators
Ratels are generally free from predators and are said to be impervious to snake bites. But they do face increasingly hostile competition from man. The old-fashioned honey hunter had a grudging respect for them, but modern beekeepers are not prepared to lose large amounts of their produce to them. Ratels are increasingly poisoned, trapped, snared, shot and speared.
Did you know...
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The ratel does not have external ears. Rather, the ear is enclosed in the skin, with an opening that can be closed to keep out dirt when the ratel is digging.
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Its thick skin and coarse, bristly hair offer protection from bee stings, but the ratel is not impervious to them. Stings may account for some ratel deaths.