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With a name like “honey badger,” it’s understandable the animal doesn’t get the credit it deserves for being a tough guy.

These ten points from TopTenz, though, will never let you look at this fuzzy creature without a creeping suspicion of malevolent intentions, again.

And if you meet one in the wild, you’d better be wearing a cup, gents.

10. They’re machete proof

…The honey badger’s incredibly hardiness mostly stems from it’s thick hide, which is said to be both arrow and spear proof to the point African tribes won’t bother to try hunting them. On top of this, honey badger skin is very loose, allowing the animal to turn around inside its own skin if it’s ever grabbed by the scruff of the neck, a weak point on most lesser animals. The honey badger knows this and has been observed intentionally letting animals like jaguars and lions grab it this way so it can turn around and attack the animal’s exposed throat or eyes. Which may sound like a cheap tactic until you learn that…

9. They go for the balls

For reasons that evolutionary biologists can’t adequately explain, honey badgers seem to have a particular tendency to go for the balls when attacking animals larger than themselves, most notably lions and humans.

Hunters, trackers, and others who make their living exploring the African bush fear the animal above all others and there are many, many anecdotal stories from those who’ve had run-ins with the animal reporting very matter of factly that it seems to instinctively “go for the balls.”…

Full story at TopTenz.

Lesser-known animal trivia.

Photo credit: By Chris T Cooper (CT Cooper) – Own work, Public Domain, Link