“Small, grumpy, and genuinely afraid of absolutely nothing.”

The honey badger has reviewed the food chain and decided it does not apply. Roughly the size of a small dog, it will pick fights with lions, raid beehives bare-faced, and shrug off cobra venom after a brief, inconvenient nap — then wake up and finish eating the snake. Its secret is skin so loose and rubbery that when something clamps down, the badger simply swivels around inside its own hide and bites back. It's clever, too: documented escaping enclosures by stacking rocks, rolling logs, and using tools, which is the last thing you want from an animal this confident. Officially listed by Guinness as the most fearless creature on Earth, it goes through life with the unbothered swagger of something that has never once lost an argument and does not intend to start now.

Scientific name

Mellivora capensis

Size

Small-dog sized (up to ~14 kg).

Habitat

Dry savannas, scrub, and woodlands of Africa and South Asia.

Diet

Honey, insects, snakes, rodents — basically anything it wants.

Conservation

LC · Least Concern

Picnic threat level

Picnic threat: high. Will take your basket and dare you to object.

Sumeet Moghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Learn more →