How would a Wolverine and a Honey Badger fare in a fight?
Even though they are both members of the Mustelidae family, which also includes skunks, minks, and weasels, badgers and wolverines look nothing alike.
They have five toes on each foot, just like other mustelids, and employ a musky odor to mark territory, attract mates, and protect themselves.
However, these distant cousins live in quite different environments.
Wolverines can only survive in the most remote locations. They’re known for their fury, their capacity to take the pain, and their incredible appetite, all at the same time.
SIZE
The wolverine is substantially bigger, with a length of up to 107 cm, a shoulder-length of up to 45 cm, and a weight of up to 25 kg.
Wolverines have a little bear-like physique that is compact and strong.
Their long fur changes color as they get older, from blond at birth to dark brown or black with blond tips, a gray or black tail, and a light face. They have round heads with dark eyes and round ears.
The honey badger may reach a length of 96 cm, a shoulder height of 28 cm, and a weight of 16 kilos.
DIET
A wolverine’s diet includes both meat and vegetables, making them an omnivore.
Large animals such as caribou, moose, and mountain goats are common wolverine diets.
Ground squirrels and rodents, as well as bird eggs and fruit, and smaller creatures.
However, they prefer meat and will go to considerable lengths to obtain it.
Wolverines have a good sense of smell and may detect prey up to 20 feet below the surface of the snow.
Wolverines also appear to know how to store their food.
Wolverines, according to research, utilize snow as a refrigerator to keep their food fresh.
When food is sparse, the wolverines will return to their stash to find something to eat.
Honey badgers are omnivorous carnivores with diverse diets.
In the southern Kalahari alone, more than sixty species of prey have been documented.
Insect larvae, beetles, scorpions, lizards, rodents, and birds are among the smaller foods eaten by badgers.
They will hunt bigger reptiles such as leguaans, crocodiles, and pythons, as well as highly poisonous adders, cobras, and black mambas.
Springhares, polecats, and especially juvenile foxes, jackals, antelope, and wild cats are among the larger creatures taken.
HABITAT & RANGE
Wolverines prefer colder climates because they use snow to build dens and store food.
They may be found in the Arctic and subarctic, as well as grasslands, Alpine forests, taiga, boreal woods, and tundra across Europe, Asia, and northern North America.
Wolverines are lonely species that require large areas of land to wander.
Males use their odor to define their territory and only share it with females.
Their domains may range in size from 65 kilometers to over 600 kilometers.
Though they are flexible, badgers prefer dry, open grasslands.
Southern Africa is home to honey badgers.
Differences in Territories
The extent of the territory occupied by these two species may be the most striking distinction between them.
Male wolverines have a home range of around 920 square miles, whereas female wolverines have a territory of approximately 390 square miles.
Wolverines, both male and female, will battle to the death to defend their home ranges.
Male badgers have a territory of around 1 1/2 square miles, whereas female badgers have a territory of about 1 square mile.
Badgers do not defend their territory, and their territories may overlap with those of other badgers.
BEHAVIOR
The wolverine is brave when it comes to behavior.
It has been observed choking a polar bear by seizing onto the animal’s throat with its teeth.
Suffocation by biting the throat and not letting go, as well as crushing with its massive jaws and highly modified molars, are its major methods of death.
To exist, honey badgers must be extremely hardy.
Honey badgers have been known to be attacked and killed by lions, leopards, and hyaenas.
These attempts are occasionally successful, but they are almost always unsuccessful.
The honey badger will battle nonstop until it is killed or the assailant gets tired, after which the honey badger will flee.
WEAPONS
The teeth of the wolverine are one-of-a-kind.
They have a unique molar with a 90-degree inclination that is utilized to cut through bone.
Their jaws are robust, and the combination of strong jaw muscles and unique molars allows them to devour the entire animal, even hooves, bones, and teeth.
Wolverine claws are thought to be semi-retractable but are truly permanent, according to experts.
The toe biomechanics, on the other hand, successfully allows them to do a comparable movement, which, of course, keeps them sharp.
Because these claws are curled, they’re great for catching and shredding.
The honey badger has a pair of teeth that are considerably smaller but sharper than those of the wolverine, strong claws, and the same aggressiveness and tenacity as the wolverine.
The anal gland of the honey badger is reversible. The odor it emits is characterized as “suffocating.”
DEFENSE
The wolverine’s ferocity is its primary protection against predators.
It uses this, as well as its keen claws, sharp teeth, powerful jaws, and thick skin and fur, to defend its kills from much larger predators such as wolves and bears.
Despite having thick skin, wolverines have been reported to be killed by porcupine quills in North America on a number of occasions.
The badger, on the other hand, is constructed to take a battering.
The honey badger has a robust, thick, and loose hide that was developed to protect it from biting, clawing, and stinging.
It’s about 6mm thick and highly durable.
The fact that African porcupine quills seldom pierce it is a fantastic indication of how robust it is.
Remember that African porcupines are three times larger than their North American counterparts.
Their second line of defense is their perseverance.
They have the ability to battle for hours on end.
This is an issue for a predator who is already tired gnawing at the skin.
The endeavor is exhausting, and the honey badger is battling and counterattacking with its claws and fangs the entire time.
When assaulted, the honey badger’s third defense is to go after the attacker’s groin area.
Adult male Cape buffaloes have bled to death after being savaged by honey badgers in this manner, according to records from South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
Who will emerge victorious in this battle?
It’ll be fascinating to see who wins the battle between the wolverine and the honey badger.
Mustelids are present in both species, and they hunt in the same manner.
One of the advantages of the wolverine is its large size.
We know Honeybadgers can handle larger prey like lions, leopards, and tigers, but after viewing their almost identicall armory and hunt capacity, many choose wolverine, but the battle is far from over.
It all comes down to whether the wolverine can get past the honey badger’s defenses and whether the honey badger has used the weapons necessary to kill a wolverine.
The honey badger, in my opinion, would win the fight because an American porcupine once killed a wolverine, and I saw a video in which an African porcupine’s quills could not penetrate the honey badger’s body, despite the fact that African porcupines are three times the size of North American porcupines, and the second point is tirelessness; Honeybadgers fight for hours. As a result, gaining control over it is tough.
It strikes bigger victims in the groin area, and its gland emits a stifling odor.