Although seeing large and imposing predators like lions and leopards hunting for prey, or battling it out over territorial concerns, are highly desirable sightings, the most ferocious fights can often take place a lot closer to the ground.
Benji Solms sighted one such fight while staying at the Serondela Safari Lodge, after the safari vehicle came across a pitched battle between three honey badgers.
Each of these animals had enough ferocity to make up for their small size, making this a fierce contest between animals that many other predators underestimate to their own peril.
Shapes In The Long Grass
For an animal as ferocious as they are, honey badgers have a remarkably small stature, so small that the safari vehicle struggled to pick out one nearby individual with their spotlight.
At first it was only a small dark shadow racing around in the cover of the long grass, staying out of sight. It was not stealthy enough to avoid detection altogether, and eventually it did break out from its shelter to hurry up a small path.
Famed for their aggression, honey badgers have enough natural defenses working in their favor that stealth is not an essential part of their survival strategy. Being small helps to avoid detection, but they’re more than capable of fighting off larger predators when necessary.
Let The Battle Commence
As the safari vehicle tracked the honey badger making its way along the road, they quickly discovered that this wasn’t the only badger in the area. The animal itself had the same realization when a second honey badger emerged from the long grass in a sudden attack.
A third joined the scuffle almost immediately and then the fight was underway in earnest, although the cause of the battle was never clear. Honey badgers might be famous for standing firm against much larger and more dangerous predators, but not for fighting among themselves.
Like many other animals the honey badger will have its territory it maintains through scent marking, and as this territory determines mating opportunities and the likelihood of badger cubs surviving, it is important.
It’s possible that this was some kind of territorial dispute with one of the badgers defending against two intruders, but this could also have been a completely chance encounter which ended in violence.
Tuck And Roll
The close quarters nature of the fight, and the attack coming from multiple angles required the use of acrobatic and unorthodox tactics. One of the badgers quickly proved itself at being adept at forward rolls as a method of opening up some space.
This space didn’t last long, as the other badgers were keen to continue the fight and closed in quickly. Together the three badgers rolled around in a chaotic melee with none of them seemingly able to gain the upper hand.
Loose skin prevents these badgers from being trapped by the jaws of other animals, and it means that claws and teeth often don’t penetrate any vital organs. This meant that these badgers could end up fighting each other for a long time.
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A Formal Agreement To Stop
Stamina was the only limit, and that did seem to run out eventually, with one of the badgers shown at the end of the footage examining the area while another looked on. Some kind of truce had obviously been reached.
After the apparent savagery of the battle, the amicability of this final moment raised the question of just how serious this fight had been. One of the badgers had left the scene, leaving Benji and the rest of the vehicle to watch the two remaining.
