I’ve had a few encounters with honey badgers on my travels to Africa. This was the first of those encounters, photographed late afternoon in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Honey badgers have a fierce reputation due to their ability to fight back against larger predators. Their main defense is unusually tough, while at the same time loose skin. When a predator like a leopard gets ahold of a honey badger, the honey badger is able to turn around inside its own skin and fight back while the leopard tries to navigate a fatal bite. This toughness allows the smaller animal to make frequent escapes. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.
She looks like she just heard the loose skin comment and is really pissed. Way to get us all in trouble Sean. (I didn’t even have anything to do with that comment! It was Sean’s blog. I just stop by to be polite.)
My husband sometimes call me a honey badger for all the obvious fierce personality traits—but not the loose skin, since he values his life and limb.
I’m small, but not to be messed with, so I love the honey badger!!
I knew they were fierce, but did not know about the honey badger’s loose skin & their ability to take advantage of a situation by turning around inside of it. Fascinating! I would not want to encounter the specimen in your photo, Sean. Something tells me I would get the short end of the stick.
I knew they were fierce but was unaware of their “athletic ability” to turn around in their own skin. Would not want to meet up with the specimen in your photo.
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I’ve had a few encounters with honey badgers on my travels to Africa. This was the first of those encounters, photographed late afternoon in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Honey badgers have a fierce reputation due to their ability to fight back against larger predators. Their main defense is unusually tough, while at the same time loose skin. When a predator like a leopard gets ahold of a honey badger, the honey badger is able to turn around inside its own skin and fight back while the leopard tries to navigate a fatal bite. This toughness allows the smaller animal to make frequent escapes. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.
very cool picture, and very cool animal
She looks like she just heard the loose skin comment and is really pissed. Way to get us all in trouble Sean. (I didn’t even have anything to do with that comment! It was Sean’s blog. I just stop by to be polite.)
My husband sometimes call me a honey badger for all the obvious fierce personality traits—but not the loose skin, since he values his life and limb.
I’m small, but not to be messed with, so I love the honey badger!!
I knew they were fierce, but did not know about the honey badger’s loose skin & their ability to take advantage of a situation by turning around inside of it. Fascinating! I would not want to encounter the specimen in your photo, Sean. Something tells me I would get the short end of the stick.
I knew they were fierce but was unaware of their “athletic ability” to turn around in their own skin. Would not want to meet up with the specimen in your photo.