This is the moment one of the bravest animals in Africa showed why it has so much respect - as it battled a whole pride of lions.

The plucky honey badger was caught out in the open in the Kwando Concession Park, Botswana, and unluckily became the target for a group of lions.

Stranded and weighing just 20lbs the badger decided to fight back against at least four young lions each 15 times its size.

The honey badger's tough hide and surprising strength and ferocity made it a tricky customer for the lions who struggled to deliver the killer bite.


Incredibly the pint-sized battler managed to resist the massive predators' attack for more than 30 minutes.

Wildlife photographer James Haskins watched as the badger kept the lions at bay and eventually had to leave the scene still seeing the badger fighting back.

He said: 'A scene like this is extremely rare to witness, the lions - all young lions by the way - tried their best to kill the young honey badger.


'It was probably their first time to try out their hunting skills on this animal and try as they might, they could not deliver a killer blow.

'The honey badgers skin is so though that the ions could not suffocate it or pull it apart - something lions certainly don't struggle with other less tenacious victims.

'Half an hour passed with the lions biting, chewing, clawing at the badger - but still the young honey badger just kept growling and fighting.


'We left the scene with the lions still passing around the badger between them - none of them knowing what to do to kill the animal.'

Honey badgers are found all over Africa and India and are known for their intelligence and ferocious attitude even when confronted by animals much bigger than them - with documented fights with lions, hyenas and even rhinos.

It is a mustelid and bears some similar characteristics to both a badger and the much smaller weasel.

In popular culture throughout Africa, the animal - also known as a Ratel - is known for its fighting nature and the South African military have a vehicle named after it

One famous South African honey badger named Stoffel was made famous in the BBC2 documentary Honey Badgers: Masters of Mayhem aired on Good Friday this year.

Stoffel repeatedly outfoxed his keepers escaping from his enclosure and even breaking into his owner's house to raid the fridge.

Source : dailymail

They are known for being aggressive predators, willing to attack and kill humans.

But as this picture shows, brown bears are also ever so slightly vain.

This young bear was caught out gazing at its own reflection in a Finnish lake

These pictures show the brown bear repeatedly stooping to stare at himself, unaware that photographer Sylwia Domaradska is hiding just yards away.


She captured the pictures in Kainuu, eastern Finland, where there is almost 24-hour daylight during the summer months.

The 37-year-old from London said: 'It totally felt like a dream. It was almost difficult to see where the reflections were starting.

'The bear turned up at around midnight. He came very quietly along the water's edge looking for food.


'It was a fairly young bear, perhaps two or three years old. He was very cautious as at this age he'd need to be careful about females with cubs, and older males.

'He seemed to look at his own reflection - as he stayed in the same place for a while.'

Miss Domaradska said when the bear began moving around the edge of the lake he continued looking in.


'It really was quite amusing to see - and then he was gone,' she said.

'The conditions were absolutely perfect for this kind of image.

'The reflections were perfectly still and the line between the reflections and actual trees being reflected created very little blur.

'I had actually gone out with the intention of taking a different image. I was hoping to see bears bathing and splashing in the water but instead, this happened.

'But it didn't turn out too bad, did it?'






Source : dailymail

The Asian elephant is a retired working animal called Rajan and is the only elephant in the world to swim in the sea

This happy swimmer might need a bigger pair of trunks.

Rajan the Asian elephant loves nothing more than a dip in the sea.

The retired working animal is the only elephant in the world to swim in the sea, and loves to take a dip off the Andaman Islands, an archipelago that is part of India in the bay of Bengal.

He was trained to swim to haul logs out to boats off the Islands, but when the practice was banned, enough money was raised to keep Rajan where he was in retirement

He was trained to swim to haul logs out to boats off the Islands, but when the practice was banned, enough money was raised to keep Rajan where he was in retirement.

His duties have been taken up by motor boats and now he just swims for fun and allows divers to have a dip with him.

Photographer Wolfgang Zwicknagl, from Austria said it was amazing what a good swimmer this huge animal is.

Water baby! Now Rajan just swims for fun and allows divers to take a dip with him

Wolfgang, 40, said: 'We have been told that Rajan goes swimming in the sea just two or three times per month.

'He is not forced to go into the water and if he doesn't want to, then you dive alone.

'But when his Mahout brought him to the beach, he stood there for a minute, took a breath and walked into the ocean.

'It is almost impossible to explain how amazed we were when he started the dive with us.

The 64-year-old animal moves perfectly in the ocean and uses his trunk as a snorkel

'He moves perfectly in the ocean, using his trunk as a snorkel and moved much quicker than we expected, so taking photos was surprisingly exhausting.

'The tips of his tusks have been cut slightly as he had some difficulties moving his trunk.'

Wolfgang added: 'Rajan is a retired working elephant who enjoys his pension on the Andaman Islands.

Wolfgang Zwicknagl took the pictures in the Andaman Islands, an archipelago that is part of India in the bay of Bengal

'While elephants love in a dip in the river, Rajan is the last and only one who swims in the ocean, as the painful education to do this is not allowed anymore.

Working elephants have been used at the Andamans for bringing logged trees to boats waiting in the sea and eventually to swim to the next island. This required a cruel education.

The 64-year-old animal, that weighs between three and four tons, was bought into freedom approximately five years ago.

He would have been sold to a temple in south India otherwise to continue his working elephant career.

Splashing about: Despite their large frames, elephants are capable swimmers

Wolfgang said: 'He was definitely less exhausted than us (after the dive).'

Despite their large frames, elephants are capable swimmers.

They have been recorded swimming for up to six hours without touching the bottom, and have travelled as far as 30 miles.

Wolfgang Zwicknagl said the tips of Raajan's tusks have been cut slightly as he had some difficulties moving his trunk

The 64-year-old animal, that weighs between three and four tons, was bought into freedom approximately five years ago

Source : dailymail

Police in Bangkok have arrested a pet shop owner after finding a menagerie of illegally imported animals during a swoop on a warehouse outside the city.

Thai officers found 14 albino lions from Africa and hundreds of other protected animals including birds, meerkats, tortoises, peafowls, capuchin monkeys and other species from overseas and Thailand, a police spokesman said.

Colonel Ek Ekasart said Montri Boonprom-on, 41, faced charges of possessing wildlife and carcasses, and he could face up to four years in jail and a fine of 40,000 baht (£830 or $1,300).


Ek said Montri owned an exotic pet shop at Bangkok's renowned Chatuchak weekend market and had been convicted of wildlife trading before.

Montri told reporters the lions were shipped legally and were waiting to be transferred to a zoo in Thailand's northeast.

He did not explain the discrepancy between his documents showing that he had imported 16 lions, and the fact that police had only found 14 of them at his warehouse in a residential area of Bangkok's Klong Sam Wa district.


Thailand is a hub of the international black market in protected animals. While the country is signed up to a convention regulating international trade in endangered species, Thai law does not extend protection to many alien species.

Other species seized included baboons, tortoises, sugar gliders and peacocks.  Police also found a hornbill and a leopard, both protected by Thai law, which were packed in a box and were scheduled to be delivered to clients on Monday.

The police spokesman said: 'We have been monitoring the location for a few days after the neighbors complained about the noise from the animals, and if you looked through the gate, you could spot lions in the cage.'

The animals were confiscated and are being looked after by the Department of Natural Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.











Source : dailymail

Dramatic video footage captures the moment a bear is sent flying into the air after being hit by a car - before walking away apparently unharmed.

The footage, which was taken from inside the vehicle as it was driven along a highway, believed to be in Russia, shows the animal walking across the road before being hit.

After smashing violently onto the car's bonnet, the bear is sent rolling into dirt by the side of the road - but simply rights itself and scampers off into the forest.

The video, captured and uploaded by YouTube user Stanislav SS, has become an internet hit.


It is unclear exactly where the collision took place, but bears, particularly brown bears, are found across Russia.

Many Russian drivers attach cameras to their dashboards to record accidents. The practice is thought to be influenced by a lack of public confidence in the country's traffic police.

Driving in Russia is relatively dangerous, with 200,000 traffic accidents in 2011 alone, according to the Business Insider.


Adult brown bears generally weigh between 220 and 1,400lb and are covered in a thick layer of muscle and fat.

East Siberian brown bears are usually darker with a proportionately larger skull than other varieties.

Bears have played a key role in Russian culture and folklore for centuries - and have been used at times as a symbol of the Russian state.


Source : dailymail

Video Link : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333841/Incredible-moment-bear-sent-flying-hit-car-picks-scampers-off.html

A CROCODILE devoured a man as he fished in an eastern Indonesian river but left his head floating in the water where it was discovered by his distraught family, police said Thursday.

Sam Sem Ledo, a father of 11, set off on Tuesday to go fishing for crabs in the Amabi river in Kupang district on Timor island.

But the 53-year-old had not returned home by the following day, so several of his family members accompanied by police began searching for him.

At first they spotted a basket of crabs, his fishing gear and flip-flops - but then came face-to-face with his head floating in an estuary, said local detective Bonifasius Rumbewas.

"We were able to identify him because of the head," added local police chief Mochammad Slamet, who said that other body parts, including intestines, were also found in the water.

Police did not say which of the man's family members were involved in the search

Mr Slamet said Ledo had been killed by a saltwater crocodile, and that the area was infested with them.

In the past year and a half, at least five people had been killed by crocodiles in the district, added Mr Slamet.

He urged people "to be aware that they are living near a crocodile habitat and take extra care".

The huge Indonesian archipelago is home to a vast array of exotic wildlife, including several species of crocodile.

Source : news.com.au

A LION and a miniature sausage dog have completely turned the idea of “fighting like cats and dogs” on its head.

Bonedigger, a five-year old male lion, and Milo, a seven-year old Dacshund dog, are so close that Milo nonchalantly licks the massive lion's teeth to clean them.

The two have been inseparable over the past five years at G.W Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

Bonedigger was born with a metabolic bone disease that left him mildly crippled.
 

Milo and two other five-year old wiener dogs, Bullet and Angel, sensed that Bonedigger was disabled and sought to comfort and protect him when he was a cub.

Bonedigger and his pack of dogs cuddle, feast on raw meat and play in the grounds together.

Animal handler John Reinke, 43, who lost both his legs after a bungee jumping accident, works at the zoo where he's witnessed the bond develop between the unlikely duo.

View our incredible picture gallery below to see more.




Source : dailyrecord

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Ty, a 17-year-old, 400-pound tiger, underwent surgery Wednesday to remove the monster hairball. He was unable to hack it up because it was so big.

 CLEARWATER, Fla. — It's not unusual for a cat to get a hairball, but a 400-pound tiger needed help from veterinary surgeons in Florida when he couldn't hack up a basketball-size hairball by himself.

The 17-year-old tiger named Ty underwent the procedure Wednesday at a veterinary center in the Tampa Bay area community of Clearwater. Doctors said in a statement that they safely removed the 4-pound obstruction from Ty's stomach.

 The tiger, which is cared for by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Seminole, was brought to veterinarians after not eating for nearly two weeks. Doctors said they detected the hairball using a scope with a camera.

Vernon Yates, whose nonprofit group regularly assists law enforcement agencies with seized animals, says he's thankful the hairball was removed and Ty is doing fine.



Source : nydailytimes

As any sportsman knows, there's nothing more frustrating than having a ball hogger on the team.

So it is no surprise these adorable polar bear cubs looked a little peeved when their mum, Cora, got hold of a yellow ball and just wouldn't let go at Brno Zoo in the Czech Republic.

Her skills may have been impressive as she demonstrated an impressive keepy-uppy technique, but the cubs, Kometa and Nanuk, evidently weren't interested in being spectators.

After at first waiting patiently at the side of the water, they decided to take matters into their own paws and stretched for the ball.


And, after an agonising wait, it looks like Cora finally decided to have a rest and let them have a go, proving pester power isn't just the preserve of human children.

The bears' home was founded in the Eastern European country 1950 and is affiliated with the CITES Centre for animals from illegal international trade and the rescue station for injured and disabled wild animals.





Source : dailymail