The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
“We have a mantra, Facts get shares; opinions get shrugs.”
–Steve Bannon
In nature there’s a certain animal that frequently demonstrates its toughness and deters possible predators should they decide to advance on it for the purpose of trying to turn it into prey. The interesting thing about this particular animal is that it’s one of the most ferocious fighters in the entire animal kingdom, yet is far from being the biggest, or most intimidating at first glance.
In the wild there are plenty of predators that you might first think to put at the top of your list in terms of what you may identify as being the most dangerous, or being the types of animals that you might see as being the biggest threat in nature. Some examples that come to mind might be any number of venomous snakes, big cats such as lions, perhaps wolves, bears, and maybe even hyenas.
In terms of ranking animals in the wild in a top category from most dangerous to least dangerous any of these options I just mentioned would rank pretty high on the list for being an animal that would be a real threat to your livelihood if you were to cross paths with it in the wild.
However, none of these include the animal that I’m referring to here in my example. No, the animal I’m talking about here is probably the most ferocious and unrelenting animal in all of nature when it comes down to survival and the animal that deserves to wear that crown of being the fighter among fighters is the one and only honey badger.
Just to give you some perspective the adult male honey badger can have a mass of only about 20-35 lbs while a female can range between 11-22 lbs.
First of all, even though the honey badger has a reputation for being nature’s own version of the toughest street fighter around, these little animals will go to a lot of trouble to avoid trouble. However, if the honey badger is cornered, or feels threatened it will quickly demonstrate where it got its reputation.
When looking at the physical breakdown and capabilities of the honey badger this animal is quite impressive. Honey badgers possess a high level of intelligence and have demonstrated various problem solving abilities in certain environments of captivity where they use sticks, rocks, and limbs to bridge escape routes while also figuring out latches on gates and small cages.
In addition to this they are also really good at digging holes and they prefer to eat small animals such as scorpions, snakes, insect larvae, small rodents and, as the name suggests, honey. This animal has claws that can dig a hole in the ground incredibly fast and their teeth and jaws are so powerful that they can crush bones with relative ease. Oh and I know I mentioned that they preferred small rodents and insects, however honey badgers have also been known to take down young antelopes, wildebeest, and waterbuck.
As if this isn’t impressive enough the honey badger also has a very loose and thick coat of skin which protects it from other potential predators while also making it difficult for a predator to hold onto the honey badger because of the loose thick coat allowing it to quickly torque its body to bite and claw an adversary.
It also possesses the ability to spray a nasty odor from its anal gland similar to that of a skunk to deter and confuse an adversary while also simultaneously going on full blown offense quickly turning the hunter into the hunted.
You’re probably wondering just how tough are honey badgers?
Well we all refer to the lion as the king of the jungle and I’m pretty sure 100% of you reading or list
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com