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Honey Badgers: The Crazy Truth

2011-11-30 · John · watch on YouTube · Science & nature · curiosity idea

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

John, who spent Thanksgiving researching honey badgers, argues the famous viral narration undersells them and runs through their reported habits: attacking the testicles of prey, raiding hives with stink, venom resistance, cheetah-cub imitators and nearly unkillable skin.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting from the in-laws'; John, like the internet, is fascinated by honey badgers; the famous narrated video fails to capture them

  • ★★★ Like most of the internet, John is fascinated by honey badgers, but says Randall's famous narration does nothing to capture their glory. (playful) — 00:00:01
  • ★★ John says honey badgers are two to three feet long, weigh 30 pounds, eat anything and live solitary, non-monogamous lives. — 00:00:04

00:00:19 — Honey badgers reportedly attack larger prey, and humans, by going straight for the testicles

  • ★★ John says there are many reports, though hotly debated among naturalists, of honey badgers attacking larger prey like wildebeest, zebras or water buffalo by biting off the testicles first. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:20
  • ★★ John says there are reports that honey badgers attacking humans, which happens occasionally, also go straight for the testicles. (playful) — 00:00:37

00:00:45 — Raiding beehives with anal-gland scent ('fart attack') and resistance to bee venom

  • ★★ Many biologists believe honey badgers raid beehives by releasing scent from their anal glands so foul that the bees flee. (playful) — 00:00:45
  • ★★ Bees that stay and sting don't bother honey badgers much, John says, because they are more immune to bee venom than almost any other mammal. — 00:01:06

00:01:16 — Cheetah cubs' coat as a possible imitation of honey badgers; Rasputin joke

  • ★★ Many wildlife biologists speculate that cheetah cubs look like honey badgers as an evolutionary adaptation, since predators avoid attacking honey badgers. (hedged) — 00:01:23

00:01:45 — Why they are hard to kill: loose, thick skin that lets them turn and bite back

  • ★★ Honey badgers are hard to kill because their loose skin lets them twist round and bite back, and their thick skin resists machetes and arrows. (playful) — 00:01:45

00:02:15 — Humans as their main predator; bullet-resistant skin; digging up graves

  • ★★ John says humans are honey badgers' number one predator; their skin can stop some bullets, but a high-powered rifle kills them. — 00:02:15
  • ★★ John says honey badgers often dig up human graves and eat the bodies. (playful) — 00:02:25

00:02:33 — Thanksgiving recap: John's FIFA Swindon Town reach the FA Cup final against Chelsea again; sign-off

  • ★ John, filming at his in-laws' house, says he spent his Thanksgiving vacation researching honey badgers and watching tape of himself playing FIFA. — 00:02:33 · Thanksgiving
  • ★★ In John's FIFA game, the Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers return to the FA Cup final against Chelsea, and he vows to avenge last year's final loss. (playful) — 00:02:40 · Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers

Humor (significant)

  • After explaining that honey badgers drive bees off with foul anal-gland scent, John spells out the weapon. — 00:00:58 > «They use a fart attack!»
  • Explaining why no predator wants to attack a honey badger, John reaches for a comparison, then defends its obscurity. — 00:01:33 > «because honey badgers are harder to kill than 19th century Russian monks!»
  • John imagines a predator biting the super-skinned badger while it twists round and bites its face. — 00:02:11 > «"Agh! I shoulda gotten a gazelle!"»

Threads in this video

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