You think honey badgers are fierce? Have a look at this mongoose taking on four lions. This video was posted to YouTube only four days ago and has garnered nearly 2.8 million views. I suspect people love a feisty underdog.
The backstory from the Global Post
The honey badger — who, you should remember, doesn’t care about a single thing — is the reigning champion of animal kingdom badassery.
That said, this little mongoose is an absolute gangster of the highest order.
This little guy was chilling in Masaai Mara National Park, Kenya when four lions decided he had a very promising future as their lunch. What they didn’t realize is that mongoose doesn’t care, not even a little bit.
He went full honey-badger on these predatory clowns. Get some, mongoose. Get some.
Thankfully, this fight — one of the greatest underdog victories in the history of animal pugilism — was captured on film by Jerome Guillaumot, a nature photographer. He shot the video in 2011 and it’s just been released.
h/t: Barry
When I lived in Martinique in the 50s, before Cluc Med, etc., the one (empty) swimming pool in Fort-de-France, the capital, held snake and mongoose fights open to the public. Mongoose really don’t give a merde…
It’s not the size of d*g in a fight, it’s the size of fight in the d*g.
Many of my friends in Kenya keep mongeese – they make good pets and protect the homes from cobras and other snakes. Mongeese rule! And just in case you wondered… http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mongoose
I think the video is misleading. The lions appear to be not even adolescents that are just curious. They are barely aggressive if you can even call it that. I don’t know enough about mongoose behavior to know what its motivations are.
Agreed. I was going to say that the cubs were obviously not hungry — just enjoying the game.
Motivation for mongoose is clear… to escape unscathed. Sorta doesn’t matter what lions motivations are.
The fact that it comes BACK out of the hole to keep fighting tells me the end result is not due to ‘young lion play’ or whatever.
This really isn’t that surprising. The cost of prey of getting killed is much higher than the cost to the predator of getting injured. The two sides value losing extremely differently. The lopsidedness of this equation means that prey can often best predators when they seriously fight back. For the prey, their life is worth any possible injury. For the predator…meh, I’d rather not eat this hour than break a leg or get my nose bit off.
And, if onegoose can do this, imagine what an whole flockogeese could do….
b&
So glad you remembered the appropriate article for mongoose: an
Underd*g? Undercat, surely? (Suborder: Feliformia)
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I suspect that a mongoose is simply not big enough to make it worth a lion’s while. They generally bring down much larger prey and this mongoose is barely a mouthful. A mouthful with teeth and a bad attitude. Also as commented earlier, they are only adolescents.
One day, a lion was walking through the savannah and came across an antelope. “WHO’S THE KING OF THE JUNGLE?”, he roared. Shaking, the antelope answered: “Y-you are”. “That’s right”, said the lion, “and don’t forget it”.
Continuing his walk, he came upon a giraffe. “WHO’S THE KING OF THE JUNGLE?”, he roared. “Y-you are”, replied the trembling giraffe. “Darn straight!”, said the lion.
Next, he came upon an elephant. “”WHO’S THE KING OF THE JUNGLE?”, he roared. The elephant picked him up with his trunk, swirled him around his head and slammed him to the ground before kicking him with his massive foot. The lion, bruised and beaten, exclaimed, “Just because you don’t know the answer, doesn’t mean you have to get mad!!”
Good one!
Yes, those are silly babies fooling around. Their moms would have either not bothered, or taken that little guy down in a heartbeat. Still wonderful vid!
We had a pack of mongoose in a campground in Namibia where I stayed. While humans were definitely top of the pecking order, the mongoose ruled it over the other campground inhabitants, such as baboons. You don’t argue with 20+ angry 5-lb ferrets.
Best line: “….one of the greatest underdog victories in the history of animal pugilism”
I like how the mongoose was all bristly & mostly mouth!
On the other hand we have Raisin, my black, undersized moggie, who would routinely kick any mongoose butt within 10 feet of her food bowl.
“I suspect people love a feisty underdog.”
_
Those four ‘underdogs’ don’t look so feisty to me. 🙂
Is it correct to call a honey badger, mongoose? I thought they’re separate species, and wikipedia seems to confirm this:
mongoose,
honey badger.
More precisely, mongoose is a whole family and honey badger a single species, I’ve just learned.
Never mind, I just read and looked carefully again. They’re not confused- I was.
Whole new meaning to getting goosed.