Thursday, September 16, 2010

Honey Badger & Special birthday wishes

Please excuse the pictures but it is not easy to find them in the wild and these photographs were taken through the fence of a cage they were in.

Little known facts about Honey Badgers
It can bite the heads off cobras and eat the whole snake showing not only incredible courage but remarkable immunity to the toxicity of the venom.

Honey Badgers are skilled tree climbers and have to learn this behaviour from their mothers as it is not an inherited instinct.
Honey Badgers have only one cub at a time and these cubs are dependant on their mothers to learn most of their hunting skills before reaching independence.

It takes up to a year before a cub can be independent from its mother.
They are famous for their fearlessness and even the old badgers are able to fend off predators with their aggressive self-defence skills.
Their other name is “Ratel” which is Afrikaans for rattle or honeycomb. It is also the term given to the SA defence force’s most powerful armoured vehicle.

(Just look at those claws!!)
Their name sounds sweet but this is a fearless animal and yet poses no direct threat to humans.

It is considered a wolverine and can climb trees with almost the same agility as leopards.

Leopards and lions sometimes hunt honey badgers.
Today is the birthday of someone very special and this wish is for you...... have a wonderful and happy day! May you be blessed with happiness and may your world always be filled with sunshine. Think of me when the first Star Gazer blooms! LUL!

28 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday to who ever is special to Joan:)

    These pictures are great Joan despite the cage. Not sure that I have ever seen a honey badger so this is an interesting post. Diane

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  2. I think honey badgers are amazing animals. I've seen one attack a leopard that tried to take its food. And one has a gnaw of my garbage bin every now and again!

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  3. Happy birthday to that special person. I'm always amazed at the courage and ferociousness of the honey badger. Joan, your photos are brilliant despite the cage and I know a bit more about them now. My husband and I saw him once in the Kgalaghadi Transfrontier Park. And yes, he is so quick, you'd struggle to get a photo. Have a wonderful day.Jo

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  4. the pictures are wonderful, does not matter where you took them. i love the second one, he is so cute. thanks for all the info on them.

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  5. We also have magoes, litchies here, we don't have any on our lot, but they are every where. mango is my favorite fruit.

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  6. Thanks Diane. They are mostly out at night so not easy to see.

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  7. They are amazing Lynda. I was watching one not too long ago digging up what looked like monitor lizard eggs but it was too far away to get proper shots of it. Those claws made short work of the digging.

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  8. Thanks Jo. Also, they are not still for a minute which adds to the difficulty. Khalagadi is of course the best place to see them as there is no grass and stuff for them to hide in. :) I have not been up there for many years now and need to take a trip soon but it is a long distance for me to go and I always have to overnight somewhere, usually Kuruman.

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  9. I love mangoes too but then, I am a hog for any fruit when it comes into season as it is now. I can hardly wait for the shops to get in melons too. You must stay in Florida Sandra as further north you will not find any of these fruits. That was a wonderful lot of posts you did on the bananas.

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  10. The Honey Badger is sure cute to look at but those claws are very dangerous looking. Nice shots through a cage Joan.

    Happy Birthday to the mystery person.

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  11. Happy Birthday to this special someone!

    Those claws are huge! It almost looks like it's related to bears. Neat photos, thanks for the info Joan :)

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  12. Thanks Gaelyn. I think the Badger is a lot like your Racoon, most people hate them as they can be vicious and cause a lot of damage. The bee farmers are out to destroy every Badger they find.

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  13. You aee welcome Wendy. :) I wonder if we had bears and it came to a fight between the two which one would win? These fellows are scared of nothing and no one.

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  14. Happy Birthday to your special friend.....
    Those claws look like I could use this guy in my garden to do some weeding. LOL Cool animal.
    Have a great weekend Joan.
    B.

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  15. LOL!! He would do an excellent job of it too Becky and in no time at all.

    Thanks. I am off on my trip in a few hours and you can bet I hardly got any sleep last night as I am so excited about being in the bush again. LOL!!

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  16. That honey badger sounds like a critter I would want to stay far away from. I enjoyed reading all about him though. I love finding out facts I never knew and seeing photos.

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  17. going down your sidebar, I have a treasure of material to read through some day over here. I'll come back as I find time and look back.

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  18. He is a meanie Sandy and most other animals stay out of his way. :)

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  19. I hope you enjoy the stuff Sandy. They are posts I did a long time ago which I though might be of interest to new people as so many are wildlife lovers. I have had the most wonderful years working in that environment but have made the articles informative and educational too.

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  20. Great information about an animal I never saw in the wild. Dispite the cage, the shots are great, Joan.

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  21. Thanks Jose. I am in the bush roght now and I cant wait to get out there in a little while and see what there is. It is very dry though and hope it rains soon.

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  22. Strangely enough I remember seeing one of these honey badgers as a child in the St. Paul, Minn. zoo. A long way from home it surely was.

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  23. Many of the zoo's have exchange programs with other countries and so swop all kinds of animals. I think it is a very good idea as some animals breed well or easier in certain places. Thanks Ray.

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  24. Happy Birthday...if you are special to Joan..than you are good people...

    That badger is a scary animal. Interesting how long a youngster has to stay with its Mother.....

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  25. I guess no matter how vicious, at least our mothers love us. :) Thanks Michelle. :)

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  26. What an interesting badger. I've never seen a badger before.

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  27. They remind me a lot of your racoon Mary as their habits are similar.

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