Talk about being tough. The honey badger is Africa’s most fearless animal, according to the 2002 Guinness Book of World Records. Resembling a skunk, it has a similar white stripe that runs down from head to tail of its jet black body. It was named after its tenacious tendency to attack the homes of African honey bees, in spite of several hundred stings, in order to win it, not the sweet honey, but the nest of bee larvae inside the honey comb.
According to a 2004 National Geographic story, the honey badger can travel up to 40 kilometers a day in their persistent, never-ending hunt for food, which includes insects, rodents, birds, and poisonous snakes.
Although they are not immune to snake toxins, they have been observed to recover within a relatively short amount of time.
A humorous, popular 3 ½ minute web favorite, “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger” is a remake of a National Geographic special, where the animal is seen fighting and clawing relentlessly at a poisonous puff adder. Even after the snake injects venom into the pushy carnivore, the honey badger continues to devour it until toxin takes over. Even then, it passes out for two hours and then gets back up to finish its meal—even though National Geographic notes that it is not immune to toxin.
The video depicts the animal as truly fearless, “badass” and not “giving a sh*t.” It has received well over 4 million views so far, “but honey badger don’t care!”
