A Baby What?
Posted at 9:46 am December 14, 2005 by Tammy Spratt
The Vernay’s ratel is more commonly known as the honey badger. This small mammal, which is a member of the weasel family, is said to be one of the most aggressive and ferocious animals. But looking down at the sleepy baby ratel laying in a small round red tub, I saw nothing but cute and no sign of the behavior this animal has a horrible reputation for.
The keeper was able to put the baby ratel on the ground among fall-colored leaves for his photo shoot with no fear he would run off. The young ratel, born October 20, slowly walked around, sniffing leaves and making ratel sounds that I can not even begin to describe. Mom ratel was quite anxious as she could see her baby walking around outside the enclosure. When I felt I had gotten enough photos, the keeper took the baby back to his mom. I have no doubt this adorable little creature will grow into a beautiful animal true to his honey-loving nature. Hopefully by raising this youngster more can be learned about the little known and secretive ratel.
Tammy Spratt is a photographer for the Zoological Society of San Diego.
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December 14th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
I am always amazed at the ” new” animals I learn about from you guys. He’s a keeper, though it sounds like he will be a handful when he’s older. Thanks for the picture, Tammy, as I would’ve had no idea what a ratel might look like.
December 15th, 2005 at 4:23 am
I recall seeing on a program that the reason why they are considered the world’s most aggressive animals is because they go into a bee hive, stir up the bees, get stung, run away, go back and repeat the process until all the bees are dead.
Do they get access to bee hives at the zoo?
December 16th, 2005 at 7:07 am
What a sweet baby. I saw a documentary on them just last month and they have such difficult lives in the wild. Thanks for the picture.