In a remarkable sighting in South Africa, a local guide captured photos of a honey badger chasing and then mauling a small antelope.
Honey badgers are a small carnivorous mustelid, but don’t let their stature fool you; they are famously strong, with thick skin that protects them from much larger predators. The species has a large range, but sightings are quite rare. Spotting one hunting is rarer still, while witnessing one hunt down a Cape grysbok on a beach is nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime sighting.
Jade Stanford took this sequence of photographs from a beach lodge in De Hoop Nature Reserve, around three hours’ drive east of Cape Town.
Photo: Jade Stanford/Facebook
Photo: Jade Stanford/Facebook
The grysbok, desperate to escape, headed into the surf but was pushed around by the waves and soon exhausted. The honey badger seized its opportunity and took the small antelope down, mauling its face and leg.
Photo: Jade Stanford/Facebook
However, in a final twist, the honey badger eventually abandoned its prey and the grysbok somehow regained its feet a few hours later. It then limped off the beach and was not seen again.
The sighting was first shared by the Natural Selection tour company on Facebook:
