A honey badger digs burrows up to 9 feet, or 3 meters, long and up to 5 feet, or 1.5 meters, deep. A single tunnel ends in a chamber where the honey badger rests. Honey badgers can also walk, trot, climb trees and swim, and they tumble, roll and somersault on the ground. Their range reaches from sea level up to 4,050 meters, which is 13,287 feet. A honey badger sometimes hides food and saves it to eat later.

Its senses are not the ones you might expect. A zoo fact sheet says a honey badger has small eyes and is farsighted. A field guide says it picks up vibrations and sounds coming from underground and inside trees. It also finds food by smell, because its nose is very sensitive, and it can close its ears to keep dirt out while it digs.

A honey badger does not spray like a skunk. When frightened, it lets out a stink from a gland at the base of its tail. Its skin is thick and loose, and it lets the animal wriggle free when something grabs it. Honey badgers leave scent marks, and they make loud, grating sounds, including a high-pitched bark.

In the southern Kalahari, one dominant adult male's home range could overlap the ranges of as many as 13 females. A newborn honey badger is tiny and hairless. One captive-born cub weighed 0.23 kilograms at 2 days of age. The mother moves her cub to a new burrow every three to eight days, and a single cub is born after a pregnancy of 50 to 70 days.

The honey badger is the only living species in its genus, Mellivora, and many scientists place it in its own subfamily, Mellivorinae. The genus name comes from Greek and Latin words meaning honey and to eat. The species name capensis refers to the Cape of Good Hope, where the first described specimens were collected.

Words to know

• genus: group of species
• farsighted: sees far best
• somersault: flip over
• subfamily: small family group
• vibrations: tiny shakes