What kind of animal is Flathead (African Flathead - Honey Badger)
The honey badger is "respectfully called" the first brother in Africa. Because the head is flat and the back is covered with a layer of white hair, it looks like the big brother who kept his hair short and dyed it white intentionally. Therefore, everyone also calls the honey badger "the first brother in Africa". Flathead Brother". Of course, this cool nickname comes not only from its physical features, but also from an overview of its character: fierce and bohemian, it often "runs rampant" in the animal world and left many "legends", such as "Africa is not chaotic" "Brother Badger has the final say"; Badger's creed is "Don't be timid, just do it". It can be said that Brother Pingtou has a striking similarity with the Yaju described in our country's "Yaiju must retaliate". Yaju is very vengeful. If you offend it, it will chase you back. And this kind of character is even worse than that of the African brother.
A well-deserved foodie
Let us first understand the living environment and living habits of the honey badger. It is a terrestrial animal with a body length of 60 to 70 centimeters and a weight of 8 to 12 kilograms. It inhabits tropical and subtropical green forests, thorn forests, open woodlands, riparian forests or grasslands, dry savannahs, rocky hills and deserts. . Honey badgers communicate primarily through sound. Adult honey badgers make a piercing noise, similar to a high-pitched howl.
Honey badgers are mostly solitary and nomadic, foraging for food every day. Female honey badgers tend to travel shorter distances of about 10 kilometers per day, while male honey badgers may forage as far as 27 kilometers per day. The composition of the honey badger's diet changes with seasonal changes in prey abundance, so it is also known as an opportunistic forager.
Whether you believe it or not, the feared cobra across Africa is actually just a delicacy in Brother Flathead's mouth! In its eyes, everything is edible and it is never picky about food. Eggs, small rodents, frogs, mice, birds, and even scorpions and cobras with their own venom, ranging from 2 grams to 2000 grams, are all its delicacies. Snakes account for a quarter of its diet. So the question arises, is a honey badger not poisoned after eating a venomous snake? Research has found that the honey badger is indeed "invulnerable to all poisons". It has a powerful anti-venom system in its body that can automatically digest venom and return the body to normal. The venom can only paralyze its nerves. After eating a cobra, it only sleeps for 5 minutes, and then gets up and continues to eat the rest. It is also a miracle.
Although the honey badger will eat anything, its favorites must be bee larvae and honey, as can be seen from its name. In order to eat honey, Brother Flathead will also cooperate to win, and his front partner is the honey guide bird. The two help each other to eat the honey they love. In contrast, the honey badger has sharp teeth and thick and powerful front claws, which are suitable for digging in the soil and climbing trees. In addition, its skin is hard and thick, covered with long and fluffy coarse hair, and it is not afraid of bee stings to a certain extent. But its disadvantage is that it is difficult to find wild bee hives in high trees. The honey guide bird flies high and can easily find the honeycomb, but it has no strength to break the honeycomb, so it has to ask the honey badger to help. How did this pair of good friends work together to become foodies? As long as the honey guide bird finds a honeycomb, it will constantly flap its wings, make special body movements, and make a "tap-tat" sound to notify the honey badger. After the honey badger receives the signal, it climbs up the tree, crushes the honeycomb, and eats the honey. The remaining beeswax belongs to its good partner, the honey guide bird. They can be said to be a perfect partner. As for the honey badger's love for honey, how much does it love to dig out its honey nest? Let's put it this way: few honey badgers are bullied to death by other animals, but many are stung by bees.
The fighting king among the animals
This guy with a flat head has a cute face and is a foodie, even a little bit Silly, it doesn't have much attack power at first glance, but it dares to challenge the king of the forest. Even lions and tigers get worried when they see it. How much does Flathead like fighting? If Brother Flathead says he is the second in Africa, I am afraid no animal would dare to say he is the first. When it mistakenly entered a pride of lions and faced the well-known king of the forest, it showed no fear and pounced directly on the lions.
Because he knew how difficult it was, he was so scared that the lion even backed away. When faced with the provocation of an African wild dog, which is second only to a lion in strength, he would go up and bite him first, no matter what. When he met a snake, he was even more likely to win the "big one" "Lotto" is still exciting. It is the natural enemy of African snakes. Venomous snakes will run away when they see it. Even huge pythons have no way to deal with it. Not to mention other things, it often attacks animals several times larger than itself, and rarely loses! As a result, Guinness World Records named it "the most fearless animal in the world." Perhaps in the face of provocation, the subtext in its heart is: Don't tell me how many people there are, don't tell me who the opponent is, just tell me the time and place.
It can be said that Brother Pingtou's life creed is "don't care about life and death, and do it if you don't accept it." Some people compare it to an ancient hero. Not only will he not be bullied, When seeing other animals being bullied, they will take the initiative to "take action" to save those weaker animals. Therefore, some people concluded that Brother Flathead's badger life was either fighting or on the way to fight. Its "obsession" for revenge is as deep as a plaster. Once it sticks and is peeled off, you will only suffer. With a weight of only 10 kilograms, the honey badger ranks among the big brothers in the cruel African savannah. It can be said to be the "leader of the animal world" who interprets battle into life.
The strength of Africa’s No. 1 Brother
As the saying goes, “You need to be tough to make iron.” The flat-headed brother is so fierce. Because it has many enviable skills. For example, it can dig holes, and then use the insects that escape when digging to attract birds to eat, and then capture the birds; a turtle that even lions and tigers can't do anything about, it can easily bite open the hard shell; its claws can help it quickly Climbing trees, the extremely fast cobra has nowhere to escape; its sharp teeth can eat a python in 15 minutes; even more incredible is that the flat-headed brother can also go into the water to catch a crocodile and bite the crocodile to death directly. Isn’t this fighting power terrifying?
But if you think that the flat-headed brother is just a reckless man who knows how to fight, you are totally wrong. This animal is also very smart. For example, the zoo cannot keep it in captivity. Some researchers locked it in a room with an iron door, and it studied the opening and closing of the door, and taught its "girlfriend" to cooperate in opening the iron door, and then escaped; the researchers reinforced the iron door, and it dug in from the wall. The researchers built it a "prison"-like high wall, and it broke branches, pushed tires, brooms and other climbing objects in the room to the corners, used them to raise them and ran out; when faced with provocation, It can observe the enemy's weaknesses in a short time and attack them. It can be said to be a high-energy animal that fights wits and courage.
Even if it has a personality and is a bit smart, no one dares to offend anyone with its fierce energy. Isn’t it afraid of being eaten by a powerful enemy? In fact, it is not easy to defeat the honey badger. First of all, the honey badger is petite and has flexible tactics. When it confronts large animals, it will choose to attack while walking, or quickly pass under the opponent; secondly, the honey badger's fur is smooth, thick, and tough, and once bitten , can break free by twisting, or even turn around and bite back. Even if it is controlled, because its fur and muscles are not connected, the predator has no point of contact and no way to bite. There was a documentary that recorded this real situation: after two lions caught a honey badger, they couldn't bite its flesh alive, so they had to let it go in the end; in addition, it also has a unique skill, its tail There is a gland that contains smelly liquid. Once attacked by an enemy, it will release a stink, fumigating and warning the enemy. Does it sound similar to the weasel in our country?
It can be said that Brother Flathead is not only a brave, resourceful, courageous and capable representative of the animal world, but also an "idol" level existence in the hearts of many people. Someone joked that if there was an afterlife, he would be a honey badger.