Summary: <p>It’s badger week at Strange Animals Podcast, thanks to a suggestion by Richard E.! I knew the honey badger was something special, but I had no idea how special. And by “special” I mean “terrifying.”</p> <p>Shout-out to <a href="http://turnofphrases.com/">Turn of Phrases</a> podcast just because I love it so much. It’s a short, family friendly podcast that explains the weird idioms we say without thinking about them.</p> <p>A honey badger. Look at that adorable snarl!</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-574" src="http://strangeanimalspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/honey_badger_02-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200"></p> <p>A wolverine and its TEETH:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-575" src="http://strangeanimalspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Wolverine-snarling-300x218.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="218"></p> <p>An American badger:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-576" src="http://strangeanimalspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/amerbadger-300x201.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="201"></p> <p>A European badger:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-577" src="http://strangeanimalspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Badger-1-710x473-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200"></p> <p><strong>Show transcript:</strong></p> <p>Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw.</p> <p>I’ve been getting a bunch of great topic suggestions and I’m falling behind on addressing them, so this week I <em>was</em> going to cover two or three suggestions in one big episode. I started with the honey badger, though, and soon I realized this animal and some of its close relations deserved an episode to themselves.</p> <p>The honey badger was suggested by Richard, who has also sent lots of other great topic suggestions I’m working on. That’s not my brother Richard, it’s a different Richard. Hello to both of you.</p> <p>The honey badger sounds like it should be a cuddly Pooh-bear kind of animal that gets its hand stuck in the honey jar and its friends have to help free it. In fact, the honey badger is a terrifyingly dangerous animal that’s related to other badgers, as well as to weasels, wolverines, and otters, although not closely. One interesting thing I just found out: the European badger is not all that closely related to the American badger. In fact, the American and European badgers are about as closely related to each other as they are to the honey badger. The European badger is more closely related to the wolverine than it is the American badger and the honey badger. We’ll look at all these animals this week.</p> <p>The honey badger has short legs, a broad body, a flattish head with a stubby nose, small ears and eyes, a medium-length tail, and strong claws. That’s the same rough description of the wolverine and the European and American badgers too. Its fur is black with a broad pale gray or white stripe from t</p>
