Mellivora capensis

The honey badger, also known as the ratel, is a mammal widely distributed across Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the sole living representative of the Mellivorinae subfamily of the Mustelidae.

Mellivora capensis

Sumeet Moghe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
honey badgerPBDB
Sits inside
MellivoraPBDB
Diet
carnivore, omnivorePBDB, for Mellivora
Life habit
semifossorialPBDB, for Mellivora
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Mass
12 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 35 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 35 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 35 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 23 of 35 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences2.58 Mya – 11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

35 occurrences of Mellivora capensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

35 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Vogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°E

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The named rock units Mellivora capensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 30 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mellivora capensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mellivora capensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

459 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Mellivora capensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

30 references

Each of the 35 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 18 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Mellivora capensis

Credit
Sumeet Moghe
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mellivora capensis · FMNH:Mammals:85510

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMellivora through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Schreber 1776)