Honey-Guide and the Ratel
This animal is called a Ratel or a Honey Badger.
It has been called as the bravest animal on Earth. It is as big as a dog but can fight with leopards and tigers! The colour of his fur scares the animals and birds around him.
They poke into any hole that comes in their way and search for snakes in them. Poisonous snakes like Cobra, Mamba, Puff Adders are his favourite food.
The Puff Adder is the most poisonous snake of Africa and it has enough poison to kill 5-6 people. But our brave Badger drags these snakes from their holes and eats them without any fear or effort!
He also hunts for turtles, frogs, fish, lizards and mongooses.
Notice its sharp front teeth which is very dangerous for its preys.
It has a tough and thick fur. It is also very loose so that he can turn around and bite even if his opponent catches him by his collar.
Look how the mighty lion is also a little bit hesitant to attack this fearless badger, ready for fight.
Let us now introduce ourselves to his little friend ..
This tiny bird called the Honey Guide, is a great friend of the brave Honey Badger.
What is common between them? HONEY !!!
Their love for honey makes them friends. Let us see how.
Do you know why is the Honey Guide called so?
It has a special ability to search and find out beehives.
The Honey Guide loves to eat the wax with which the bees make their hive but she is too small to enter beehives. Also, she is afraid of the bee stings.
This is where she needs help. The brave badger also loves to eat honey but cannot search for the hives. The Honey Guide bird knows this.
When she finds a badger on the ground, she comes close to it and produces chirping sounds. It fans its tail excitedly showing her white feathers. The Honey Badger notices her and begins to follow her with a grunting and growling sound.
The bird hops from tree to tree till she comes near the hive. Then she waits for the Badger to find the hive.
The Honey Badger breaks the hive apart with his strong claws. His thick fur protects him from bee stings . He eats all the honey and leaves the wax for the Honey Guide!
This is how both Honey Guide and the Honey Badger help each other in finding honey , a food they both love.
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With this, we complete our colourful tour of living beings helping each other. We hope you will remember these organisms and find out more about them.
Now we list some on line resources which have been used in creating this article. We thank them for their help and recommend our teachers to visit these resources to get more familiar with Symbiosis.
Sources, Credits and Online Resources
