honey badger, ratel (Mellivora capensis) Honey badger, Mellivora capensis, carrying young pup in her mouth at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Northern Cape, South Africa
Date 21 April 2017, 09:44
Source Honey badger, Mellivora capensis, carrying young pup in her mouth at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Northern Cape, South Africa
Author Derek Keats https://www.flickr.com/people/93242958@N00 from Johannesburg, South Africa
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Honey_badger,_Mellivora_capensis,_carrying_young_pup_in_her_mouth_at_Kgalagadi_Transfrontier_Park,_Northern_Cape,_South_Africa_(34739010541).jpg
The honey badger or ratel (Mellivora capensis) is the only species in the mustelid subfamily Mellivorinae and its only genus Mellivora. It is native to Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Despite its name, the honey badger does not closely resemble other badger species; instead, it bears more anatomical similarities to weasels. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities.
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily: Mellivorinae
Genus: Mellivora
Species: Mellivora capensis (Schreber, 1776)