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If there’s one thing you should know about honey badgers, it’s that they don’t back down easily, even against predators much larger than themselves. This video, showing a honey badger fearlessly protecting its young, illustrates this beautifully. According to the YouTube account, Latest Sightings, which shared the video in February 2019, the wildlife interaction was filmed by safari guide Sahara Wulfsohn in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park.

“On our drive, we had seen a few elephants, but I was really looking forward to showing my group of five guests a leopard. When Joel, one of the other rangers called in that he had found a female leopard not far from the lodge, I quickly responded to the sighting,” explained Wulfsohn in the video’s description. “When we arrived at the scene, Joel pointed out the leopard, which was moving slowly through a tamboti thicket towards us. At this point, I was very excited and grateful for having been given this excellent opportunity to show my guests a real-life leopard. I didn’t notice initially, but there was a young honey badger a few meters away from us—and about 10 meters away from the Leopard. When I realized what was about to happen, I could hardly believe my eyes!”

The leopard pounced on the badger and pinned it down. That’s when the video footage begins—showing the leopard with the small badger firmly gripped in its jaws. But then, another honey badger—almost certainly the small cub’s mother—comes charging at the leopard full force. Despite its small stature, the momma badger causes the leopard to jump out of fear before running it off a safe distance. See it for yourself below.

“The sighting ended with the mother badger dragging her large cub by the scruff of the neck into a convenient and nearby hole in a termite mound,” said Wulfsohn. “The young badger had probably broken its front right leg, but will almost certainly survive thanks to the strength and protection of its mother.”

The incredible video is far from the first time a badger has faced off with a predator larger than itself. Here are three similar instances.

Watch a Honey Badger Take on Six Lions

Watch a Honey Badger Fight Three Leopards

Watch a Honey Badger Barrel Through a Thorny Tree to Kill a Rat

Sage Marshall
Sage Marshall

Sage Marshall joined Field & Stream as an editorial intern in 2018, when he worked at the publication’s former office in Manhattan. His desk-mate was a mounted warthog. After graduating from college, he worked as a freelance journalist for two years before returning to the F&S team full-time in 2021 as the brand’s News Editor.

Wildlife Conservation
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