– It can let out a foul smelling anal-sac fluid in self-defence. – Folklore, also backed up by some circumstantial evidence, says that the ratel (the Afrikaans name for the honey badger) goes for the scrotum when it attacks large animals, including man. It’s also very loose, making it difficult for other animals to grip and allowing them to twist and bite their attacker.
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– Their skin is nearly impenetrable (6mm thick around the neck). – They may be small compared to other carnivores, but honey badgers are broad and powerfully built with razor-sharp claws (digging ability is second only to the aardvark) and teeth and jaws adapted especially for crushing. (Thanks to Richard Despard Estes’ The Behavior Guide to African Mammals): Why you should NOT get on the wrong side of a honey badger I couldn’t help imagining the youngster running home to his parents: “Dad! Dad! Guess what!? Mom and I saw a BIG cruiser, it was HUGE Dad! And Mom was too scared so she ran away but I was so brave, and I chased it away all on my own!” We took a few pictures and then left him alone. It was astonishing to see such confidence in such a small creature. When a honey badger feels threatened – even a very small one – their instinct is to attack. He ran out, hissing violently and bearing his razor-sharp teeth. We moved a little closer in order to get a better angle but this did not please the little badger. He was crouching in a small hollow, staring up at us with big adorable eyes and seemed rather shy.īut these first impressions of mine were rather naïve. Surprisingly, the mother ran off leaving her youngster behind. As we came around a corner there were two honey badgers – mother and baby – right on the edge of the road. Game drives in the area are on shaded well-worn roads, which wind underneath beautiful mopane woodland.
I was staying in Botswana’s Linyanti concession when I had this amazing sighting. Posted by Guest Contributor 10 September, 2014 22 July, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized Tags: Diederik cuckoo, nest, village weaver, weaver 2 Comments on Weaver encounter Crazy baby honey badger As the cuckoo made her escape, her rapidly laid egg was seen to fall out of the nest sealing the failed attempt at parasitisation. They proved to be successful on this occasion as they managed to prevent her from laying her egg in the chosen nest. What happened over the next few seconds was amazing to photograph as the male weavers mobbed the female cuckoo and launched a violent attack on her by hanging onto her and pecking at the part of her body protruding from the nest in a desperate endeavour to pull her out. While photographing dozens of village weavers building nests on a single acacia tree near Bela Bela, my attention was drawn to a loud commotion in one corner of the tree. It became clear that the weavers had spotted a female Diederik cuckoo trying to get inside one of the nests. Posted by Corlette Wessels 10 September, 2014 22 July, 2021 Posted in Uncategorized Tags: Africa photography, grey heron, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, scaly feathered finches, waterhole 3 Comments on Fishing for finches in the Kgalagadi Weaver encounter
In the 60 minutes I spend at the dam he must have had at least four finches before he eventually flew off. I am not sure if he was trying to drown them or make the feathers more palatable but either way he swallowed the little finches live and hole. The heron would walk around the dam making himself smaller and holding himself lower than usual, and as the finches came to drink he would grab them, then dunk the fluttering creature in the water, and hold them there. As I drew closer I realised it was snacking on scaly-feathered finches! I was puzzled by this, as there are NO fish in the Kgalagadi, but then again it could have been a frog. A grey heron caught my eye when I noticed it had caught something at one of the dams in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.