THE HONEY RATEL 



(Mellivora ratel) 



Indundundwana or Insele of Swazis and Zulus (I(irt>y) ; 

 Icelesi of Amaxosa (Stanford) ; Sisele of Basutos 

 (K^rby] 



THE Ratel (Mellivora ratel) inhabits Africa from the 

 Cape to the French Congo on the west, and Nubia 

 on the east. A black ratel has been discovered in 

 the Congo forest, and has been named Mellivora 

 cottoni. A third species is known as the Indian 

 Ratel (Mellivora indica), which inhabits India from 

 the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, but does not occur 

 eastwards of the Bay of Bengal, or in Ceylon. 



In South Africa the Honey Ratel, as it is gener- 

 ally termed, exists in all the provinces. Its haunts 

 are the bush-covered lands, and especially those 

 parts which abound in rugged, bush-clad hills and 

 rocky kloofs. It makes its lair in a cave, crevice, 

 in a hole amongst the roots of a tree, among the dead 

 leaves under a clump of dense, thorny, creeper- 

 clad shrubs, in the hollow interior of an old forest 

 tree, or in burrows excavated by itself or those of 

 other animals, such as the Aard Vark. Entrance to 

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