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Ratel or honey badger Mellivora capensis Schreber, 1776

Distribution

The honey badger appears to be of Ethiopian origin and has invaded the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent through southern Baluchistan. Currently it occurs through most of Africa, through west Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, eastward as far as Myanmar (Pocock 1941, Roberts 1977). In India it is mostly found in the semiarid areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, though there are occasional sightings from the moist areas such as Orissa, West Bengal and as far as Assam (ZSI 1992, Choudhury 1997a, 1999, Mishra et. al. 1996). southwards, it has also been reported from Tamil Nadu (Pocock 1941).

Description

The honey badger is a large mustelid weighing around 8-10 kg, with a short tail, which is not very bushy. Its coarse body fur is sharply divided horizontally in two contrasting colours. The top half of the head, upper neck, and back is silvery-grey whilst the limbs, belly, lower cheeks and muzzle are jet black. The tip of the tail is also black. The head is broad with a fairly short square muzzle and the ear pinnae are very small, being reduced to mere leathery flaps, hardly 10 mm long (Roberts 1977). The forelimbs are powerfully developed with large claws, as large as 350-400 mm in length and blackish in colour. The soles have naked pads. The typical adult specimen stands about 25 cm at the shoulders and measures 600-750 mm from nose to tip of the tail. The tail is usually 150-240 mm long. Males are slightly heavier and an adult may weigh up to 10 kg.

Pocock (1941) identified two subspecies from India; M. capensis indica Kerr, 1792 distributed mostly in western India such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and as far as Bihar and M. capensis inaurita Hodgson, 1835 in southern Nepal, and possibly from north of Ganges for example in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

Behaviour

According to Prater (1971) ratels in India live in the desert and in the dry and moist deciduous zones avoiding regions of heavy rainfall. Ratels prefers hilly broken country where shelter is easier to find. In the plains they choose the banks of streams or rivers where burrows are easy to dig. They live in burrows of their own or of some other animal, rock crevices or by the shelter provided by tree roots or among thick bushes. They are largely nocturnal though also seen during day hours, occasionally in pairs. Brander (1923) reported that though they were fairly common in central India, they were rarely seen owing to their nocturnal behaviour. Along the Chambal river a few sightings were made during late afternoon close to river banks while it was crossing thick bushes of Capparis sepiaria. Honey badgers are largely carnivorous in nature preying upon snakes, rodents and insects. The African races, possibly the Indian races too love honey of wild bees, which suggests its scientific name, Mellivora and the common name, honey badger (Roberts 1977). They are excellent climbers, and also quick and energetic diggers. Their usual gait is rather clumsy shuffling with the tail commonly cocked up over their backs. There is a myth that ratels dig graves and eat human corpses. In India, the ratels breed during summer months and may produce two litters in a year. The gestation period is believed to be around 180 days and the litter size is two (Pocock 1941).

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule I part I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES, and LR nt during the CAMP Workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |