Honey badgers are awesome

April 21, 2014 • 12:48 pm

We all know that honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) are badass mammals, but I bet you didn’t know that they’re really clever, too. This short clip from a longer BBC program details the many ways that one captive honey badger contrived to escape from his enclosure:

The badger seems to be named something like “Stoffel,” but perhaps an alert reader can give the correct name.

And you’re in the UK, you can watch the whole hour program on this species here for four more weeks. I’d watch if I could!

h/t: Barry

 

30 thoughts on “Honey badgers are awesome”

    1. I saw this with my kids…they loved it and they love honey badgers…who wouldn’t.

      1. Silly by Google

        The Dutch boys’ names survey says Stoffel is short for Christoffel, Dutch version of Greek Christophoros.

  3. Saw this on PBS (Previously British Stuff) Nature a few weeks ago. There another really good bit where an inventor tried (unsuccessfully) to make a badger-proof hive for bee cultivation.

      1. Any honey badger smart enough to escape an enclosure like that but not smart enough to escape a lion…well, it either deserves what it gets or it should be released back into the wild.

        b&

  5. I say we grant Stoffel citizenship so he can run for US Congress. He’s smarter than your typical Republican politician and better looking than most of them. He should easily trounce them in a fair election.

    1. He should easily trounce them in a fair election.

      Well that’s the “Honey Badger for Prez” ticket torn up and blowing away in the dust.

  6. ” honey badger don’t give a shit” and FYI have become catchwords in our household. My bf even stumbled upon a ” honey badger don’t care” bookmark for me, complete with fancy tassel:-)

    I wonder how the guy in this video gets the HB back every time he escapes?? I’m guessing noms ( cobra?).

  7. ‘Stoffel’ is an existing but somewhat old fashioned Dutch first name. I take it the scene is South Africa, and the name is in existence in Afrikaans too.

  8. Stoffel is a not uncommon name within the Afrikaner community in South Africa.

    Probably short for, diminutive of or nickname for Stefan.

    It goes without saying that Stoffel is smarter than your average cat.

  11. You’re right it’s Stoffel or whatever the Afrikaans spelling is. In German it means a rude, grumpy, leave-me-alone individual, which sort of fits a badger and I guess it may mean much the same in Dutch/Afrikaans. In which I can’t find a definition but it is a common name. In Dutch a badger is a das similar to the Germandachs as in dachshund (badger dog).

      Frank Bartell Assoc. Prof. Anthropology Chair Dept. Of Social Science Community College of Phila. 1700 Spring Garden St. Phila., PA 19130

    >________________________________ > From: Why Evolution Is True >To: fbartell@yahoo.com >Sent: Monday, April 21, 2014 3:48 PM >Subject: [New post] Honey badgers are awesome > > > > WordPress.com >whyevolutionistrue posted: “We all know that honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) are badass mammals, but I bet you didn’t know that they’re really clever, too. This short clip from a longer BBC program details the many ways that one captive honey badger contrived to escape from his e” >

  12. I think this leads to the honey badger argument against the existence of God

    1. Amir D. Aczel claims one cannot reduce creative genius to a simple machine
    2. But check out this badger!
    3. If (1) then there must be something going on other than brain activity
    4. But according to Amir D. Aczel, this is only in the hominid line
    5. Therefore not (3)
    6. Therefore not (1)
    7. Amir D. Aczel argued that creative genius was evidence* for God
    8. Creative genius does not provide evidence for God

    *evidence in the sense that God could provide an account of it.

  13. In the Kgalagadi TransFrontier Park I watched a honey badger digging whistling rats out of their burrows. Twice cars stopped and the occupants asked if I had seen lions – when I pointed out the honey badger, they shrugged and drove on. Glad to see the ratel fan club is growing. I did have one rip open my tent to get to my blood-soaked boots (long story) and then eat them. It left the rubber heels and the laces in a neat pile by the wrecked tent.

  14. I think the south african keeper named it Mephistopheles after its’ devil may care attitude… and stoffel is a short form for it.

  15. They are awesome indeed, fierce and fearless. There is a wonderful Nat Geo documentary about ‘ratels’, as they are locally known “The Snake Hunters of the Kalahari” referring to an important part of their diet, highly recommended.
    It is their fierceness, making predators such as big cats to approach them with circumspection, or -even better- avoid them altogether, that is thought to have led to the white dorsal mop of hair in cheetah cubs, a form of Batesian mimicry.
    It may not look very impressive to us trichromates, but most eutherian mammals are dichromate, and the mimicry may work better there, particularly at a distance.

    ‘Stoffel” is a common male’s name (short for Christoffel = Christopher = carrier of Christ) in South Africa, particularly in the ‘coloured’ community.

  18. Astonishing!

    The humans involved show less impressive behaviour, though.

    Brian: “He would get the female to go up … and [he’d] say ‘woman go up … I’m pulling open, you open up …’” I’m appalled that a BBC director chose to broadcast this quote. Its inclusion in a nature programme, particularly, suggests that males naturally lead females.

    1. I guess honey badgers make really bad pets

      That would largely depend on who you’re giving the honey badger to as a pet.
      I can think of a number of people who I’d like to watch opening a box with a very pissed-off honey badger in it. “Is it a wabbit?Is it a wabbit?Is notta wabbit!!!!”

  21. I echo the sentiment that this guy going to such great lengths to escape ought to indicate that he doesn’t belong in there in the first place. I understand the keeper has a justification. It’s slightly weaker than keeping honey badgers and game animals in these accommodations in the first place.

    I’m not an animal rights person by any stretch, but I’ve got to say that this honey badger has shown enough wherewithal and chutzpah to rise above whatever level of sophistication we require of animals to grant that they’re intelligent agents deserving of some degree of freedom.

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