Humans bestowed the title of "King of the Big Cats" to the lion long ago. But even Africa's most ferocious predator has limits. Namely, the honey badger. These creatures are part of the greater weasel and badger family-a close relative is a wolverine. The honey badger enjoys a legendary reputation in the Internet age. The animal has been made into a meme with its temper and ferocity exaggerated to unbelievable proportions. We doubted this critter could be as mean as the Internet masses suggested.
We may have been wrong. As proof, we present this video from South Africa, where a small group of lions comes face-to-face with a pair of honey badgers. Turn up the volume; it is worth hearing the honey badger's incredible sounds as it stands up to the most ferocious big cats in Africa.
These two species rarely interact. That young lioness was probably curious about the much smaller creature. She stopped just short of attempting to eat it. Lions are not dumb and will weigh the odds of getting injured vs. how hungry they are. In this instance, it simply was not worth it, and the honey badgers stood their ground successfully.
This footage was shot in South Africa's Kruger National Park, a prime spot for seeing lions in the wild. However, videos of honey badgers are somewhat rare. Videos of honey badgers interacting with other large predators seem even less common. For the most part, the honey badger is a creature that keeps to itself.
However, suppose their young are in danger or cornered. In that case, honey badgers quickly spring into action with stunning ferocity. They are like little dogs that think they are big dogs. Only they make sounds like banshees. No one told the honey badgers they were vastly outnumbered and under-sized for this fight. It is true what they say: it is the size of the fight in the dog that counts. In this case, these honey badgers lived to see another day due to that fight and drive.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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