behind the big cat's and bear's, who is the top predator?

[Brehm]

I want to add one very formidable candidate as "secret" top performer. One of the most respected mammals in it's distribution range, it's often overlooked and perhaps forgotten in such debate's, but it deserves to be mentioned:

The allmighty Honey Badger! (With the epic trailer narrated by Randal 

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Honey Badger's -if not robbing honey from beehives- prey on almost every animal in their size range and sometimes they will scavange from kills of much larger predator's. 

Thank's to their loose skin on their back, Ratel's are able to survive occasional attack's from hyena's, leopard's and even lion's. Combined with their claws, physical strength for their size, sent secretion and last but not least durability, toughness and ferocity, they are a respected by every creature in their environment and able to deliver nasty wounds to almost any attacker.

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A (possibly young) leopard which tried to prey on a adult honey badger. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...cting.html

Reported case of Ratel - leopard interaction

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*This image is copyright of its original author

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A Ratel managed to escape from a lion pride, which he entered accidentely. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-hole.html

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Some interaction with other animals, including turtle, rock python and porcupine.

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What fascinate's me most is, that evolution made cheetah cubs look like Ratel's, evolving the so called "Mimicry" effect. 

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Of course, those fantastic creatures are not invulnerable and big predator's will prey on them occasionaly, but one thing is guaranteed: The Honey badger won't go down without a fight! In case of toughness, the performance to survive attacks from lion's 15-20 times of it's own size, is an amazing performance, unmatched by any other animal in my opinion.

Last but not least, a funny video about a Ratel chasing a tourist vehicle

Funny joke from a youtube comment: "If HB's would weigh 500 lbs, would they hunt lions or even elephant's?"...Answer: "No, they would prefer soviet tanks".

It's a pity, that there is no reported interaction between tiger's and HB's on the indian subcontinent. I'm sure a tiger (same as lion) would kill a Ratel, if he really want's to. But like with lions, it would be a hell of amusement, to see asia's apex predator back off from a much smaller Ratel.^^

My Vote goes therefore to the honey badger, in case of toughness and surviving performance. I let someone else adding wolverine's, if he/she want's to.

 

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