The Honey Badger: Nature's Badass

If you are one of the 6.18 million people (and counting) who has watched YouTube sensation Randall's video "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger," you may be wondering whether or not it is true.

Randall's narration is hilarious - and entirely accurate. Honey badger really DON'T care. If anything, the honey badger is even more badass than Randall's video gives it credit for.

First, the name. Both "honey" and "badger" are misnomers. The honey badger is more closely related to weasels than to badgers (although both are mustelids). And although the honey badger enjoys snacking on the honey and grubs to be found in beehives, it is primarily a carnivore that will eat anything living or dead that crosses its path.

(In parts of India where the honey badger is common, people have to take care to bury their deceased well. Honey badgers are notorious for digging up and eating human corpses.)

In one of the more remarkable video clips, the honey badger is shown being bitten by a cobra. The honey badger seems to fall asleep for a while. It then wakes up, groggily shakes off the effects of the venom, and continues eating the cobra.

This is possible because the honey badger is one of the few animals in the world which is immune to cobra venom. (This short list of distinguished animals includes the hedgehog, the mongoose, and the secretary bird.) Cobra venom is a neurotoxin which causes paralysis, drowsiness, and respiratory failure in most animals. It does seem to make the honey badger a bit sleepy, and this may be just a mild side effect of the venom's progress. It certainly doesn't slow the honey badger down for very long.

The honey badger is not just respected by the other animals of the African savannah - it is feared. Honey badgers frequently take on and fight off other apex predators including lions and hyenas. In fact, the honey badger is so effective at striking fear into the hearts of other predators that one theory holds that a cheetah cub's distinctive coat color is meant to mimic the coloration of the honey badger.

Honey badgers got their name from one of their more remarkable feeding habits. When a honey badger encounters a beehive, it basically strolls inside and eats what it wants, utterly heedless of the attacking bees. Its thick skin (up to six millimeters thick at the throat) protects it from bee stings.

(And remember, these are not "regular bees." The honey badger lives in Africa. These are the legendarily painful and aggressive African honey bees.)

But the honey badger has an additional tool in its arsenal: its anal glands can be used as a weapon.

The mustelid family (which includes weasels, badgers, and skunks) is famously stinky, thanks to these powerful glands located on the animal's rear end. Most mustelids are content to settle for strolling about in a stink cloud, with the additional ability to rub their anal glands against objects to scent mark their territory.

But the honey badger kicks it up a notch. It can actually turn its anal glands inside out, exposing victims to the full scent onslaught. Wikipedia describes this smell as "suffocating," and adds that it is a smell powerful enough to subdue bees. Much the way that a human beekeeper will pacify the beehive by filling it with smoke, a honey badger will smoke the bees into submission with its butt.

Photo credit: Flickr/Arno & Louise