In the southwest of Africa and Asia, there is an animal, it looks very distinctive, the hair on the body is mainly divided into two parts, from the forehead to the tail of the hair is white, the lower half of the body hair is black, the two colors are clear, it looks like a flat head, so this animal is also called "flat head brother".
The scientific name of the flat-headed brother is honey badger, and it belongs to the carnivorous ferret family. People who often surf the Internet may have more or less heard the name of "FlatHead Brother", which is known for its fierceness, claiming that it is either in a fight or on the way to a fight, and the most glorious deed is to dare to face the male lion.
The honey badger is like a stunned existence in nature, it is fierce and aggressive, and it will be rewarded, almost as long as it is provoked, it will be retaliated against, and many of Africa's famous carnivores have almost all fought against honey badgers.
Because the honey badger is fierce and difficult, most of the beasts in nature, even more powerful than it, are reluctant to provoke it. From the perspective of daring to face the male lion directly, the honey badger should also be a beast of the same level, but in reality, the size of the honey badger is not large, and it is only 5-14 kg after adulthood, which cannot be compared with large animals such as lions and leopards.
The reason why it has become a small bully in nature is mainly because it is strong, and the strength of the honey badger seems to have been predestined from childhood.
Fierce and aggressive, he dares to challenge the lion
Honey badgers mainly live in African tropical rainforests, open grasslands, as well as West Asia, South Asia, strong adaptability to the environment, in the rainforest, grassland, semi-desert areas and so on can be seen in their figures.
The Guinness Book of World Records describes the honey badger as "the most daring animal", which shows the strength of the honey badger.
Honey badgers are distinctly sexually dichotomous, with males about a third larger than females, and older males often have obvious scar areas on their backs, which experts speculate may be the result of frequent fights and multiple bites.
Most ferrets are fierce and aggressive, and the honey badger is a typical example of this, it will attack almost everything, whether it is hostile to it, or even pass by, even if it is just a glance, it may be attacked by honey badgers.
The famous beasts of prey on the African savannah, such as lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs, hyenas, black-backed jackals, etc., have been recorded fighting honey badgers. For the honey badger, even if the other party is a male lion, it dares to show the sword.
Honey badger is a very intelligent animal, although like a stunned head, but it is not reckless, but use their own advantages to attack the weaknesses of opponents, such as the male lion's "egg", which is the main attack site of the honey badger, ask which male animal can withstand such pain?
The fur is smooth and tough and not easy to injure
The reason why most beasts are reluctant to provoke the honey badger is not only that it can accurately strike at the male's deadly parts, but also because it has a certain strength itself, and its defense attributes are almost "full".
Judging from the name, it can be roughly guessed that this animal likes to eat bee pupae, and in fact it is true. To eat honey, there must be a way to deal with the swarm, and the honey badger has a thick body and strong claws, which can easily destroy the hive; the tough and thick skin can withstand the attack of the swarm.
In addition to being resistant to swarm stings, the honey badger's smooth and tough fur also allows it to resist most of the bites.
Generally speaking, large animals weighing hundreds of kilograms are as easy to win against small animals with only a dozen kilograms.
But observational studies have shown that in Africa, even if a leopard wants to subdue a honey badger, it takes about an hour, and the honey badger bites like a flexible gummy, and it is difficult to hurt its body.
In addition, the honey badger is very flexible, very difficult, its teeth, claws, etc. can cause damage to the face, nose, eyes, etc. of large animals, so few animals will take the initiative to provoke it.
Infanticide is so severe that only tough pups survive
Infanticide is a common phenomenon in nature, one of the main manifestations is that male adult individuals kill the same kind of cubs, such as when the lion group has a change of male lions, the newly entered male lions will kill the native cubs in the lion group, in order to promote the female lions to enter the estrus period as soon as possible, and reduce future competitors.
Like lions, the infanticide of the honey badger species is also very serious, and almost half of the newborn cubs are killed by the same male, which leads to a very low survival rate of honey badger cubs.
As the so-called "natural selection, survival of the fittest", the weak cubs are almost all killed by adult honey badgers, and the honey badgers that can survive the cruel natural competition and become adults are not strong.
Therefore, the strength of this animal is basically doomed from childhood, and it has to face the pressure from predators such as lions, leopards, hyenas, etc., while also guarding against the cruelty of adult males of the same kind.
The fragments of childhood, the cruel law of the jungle, and the natural competition of survival of the fittest may have a certain impact on the cultivation of honey badger's fierce personality.
Honey badgers are usually fierce and aggressive when dealing with outliers, but observations have found that it also has a friendly side, such as the relationship with the honeydew, which is very interesting, like two mutually beneficial companions.
The honeydew is good at finding hives, but it cannot break the hive and needs to rely on the power of the honey badger. Therefore, after the discovery of the honey nest, the honeydew will continue to chirp to attract the honey badger, and then enjoy a meal while the honey badger gets food.
Perhaps it is precisely because the honeydew can find food for itself that the honey badger treats it extraordinarily!