{"id":627701,"date":"2026-10-11T22:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T22:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627701\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T22:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T22:28:28","slug":"a-swarm-of-bees-wont-keep-this-animal-from-its-favorite-snack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627701\/","title":{"rendered":"A Swarm of Bees Won\u2019t Keep This Animal from Its Favorite Snack"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post A Swarm of Bees Won’t Keep This Animal from Its Favorite Snack<\/a> appeared first on A-Z Animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A sticky situation is taking place in this Instagram post! The video shows a honey badger<\/a> chomping away on a delicious-looking honeycomb<\/a>. However, the badger is covered in bees<\/a> who are desperately trying to defend their hive. We investigated the relationship between honey bees<\/a> and honey badgers to better understand their dynamic.<\/p>\n

Do Honey Badgers Actually Eat Honey?<\/p>\n

Honey badgers, or ratels (Mellivora capensis), are part of the weasel family, so they are related to otters<\/a> and other badgers, as well as weasels and wolverines<\/a>. Despite its name, it does not raid hives for honey alone. It also eagerly seeks out nutrient-rich bee larvae and pupae found in the honeycomb, though honey is very much a prized part of the feast.<\/p>\n

\"Honey,Badger\"<\/p>\n

Honey badgers actually feed on bee larvae.<\/p>\n

\u00a9Braam Collins\/Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n

You can find honey badgers from southern Morocco to Africa’s southern tip, and western Asia’s Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, and western India. These badgers don’t just target beehives; they also feed on small mammals, insects<\/a>, carrion, and fruit.<\/p>\n

These guys have long, powerful claws which they use to access and rip apart beehives. They also have loose skin, so they can twist around and shake off attacking bees. Their thick skin and fur mean that very few bee stings<\/a> actually reach their target.<\/p>\n

Conflict With Bees and Beekeepers<\/p>\n

The honeybees in this clip crawling all over the honey badger’s face are desperately trying to protect their hive, which is being wrecked by the ratel. This is not a mutually beneficial relationship!<\/p>\n

Beekeepers consider the honey badger to be a pest, and they retaliate against individuals that raid their hives. They shoot, poison, and trap the badgers, which has resulted in declines in their population. A better approach is to raise the hives a few feet off the ground, where badgers cannot get to them. This way, the bees can work in peace, and the badgers will be forced to go elsewhere for a sweet treat.<\/p>\n

The post A Swarm of Bees Won’t Keep This Animal from Its Favorite Snack<\/a> appeared first on A-Z Animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post A Swarm of Bees Won’t Keep This Animal from Its Favorite Snack appeared first on A-Z…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-627701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}