Ratel/Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis) Fact Sheet: Managed Care

Europe

• 1830s: exhibited at the London Zoo (The Gardens and Menagerie of the Royal Society) (Bennett 1830)
• One of the first animals in the zoo’s collection
• Brought to London from India

North American (from ZIMS 2014)

• 1904: first ratel in a zoological facility
• A male housed at the Philadelphia Zoo
• 1940: ratel exhibited in San Francisco at a World’s Fair
• On loan from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park

• Few housed in zoological facilities (from ZIMS 2014)
• <15 individuals, as of December 2014

Historical notes (from ZIMS 2014)

• 1998: first ratels housed at the San Diego Zoo
• A male and female pair
• They gave birth to a daughter named Honey in January 1999

Current population (from ZIMS 2014)

• San Diego Zoo
• 1 female, as of December 2014
• Cookie turned 3 years old in February 2015
• San Diego Zoo Safari Park
• 1 female, as of December 2014
• Benzy to turn 7 years old in August 2015

Ratels serve as animal ambassadors at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Bennett (1830)
ZIMS (2014)