NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



foothold on the balcony it coiled itself up into a 

 ball, with the head and legs tucked under its body. 

 Bunched up like this, the legs, nose, and jaws were 

 safe from injury, even if it fell upon jagged rocks. 



The ratel is carnivorous, and nothing of an edible 

 nature comes amiss to it. If hard pressed for 

 food it devours roots, bulbs, and various other 

 vegetable substances. Wild berries and fruits it 

 is rather fond of. However, flesh food in some form 

 is its mainstay, supplemented by the honey and larvae 

 of wild bees. In fact its chief mission in life is to 

 act as a check on the too rapid increase of the native 

 honey bee. Its thick skin is quite impervious to 

 the sting of a bee, and the claws of its fore paws 

 are specially adapted for tearing away the rotten 

 wood of old trees, in the hollow interiors of which 

 the honey bees establish homes, store up honey, 

 and rear their broods. 



There are few situations in which hives of bees 

 are safe from the ratel. It will even ascend the 

 face of a cliff should there be sufficient foothold, 

 and scoop out the comb from the rock crevices. 

 When a bee's nest is found, the ratel is by no means 

 content to satisfy its hunger by eating the honey 

 and the comb containing the bee larvae, which are 

 white grubs in the cells of the comb. What it 

 cannot eat on the spot it carries off to its lair to 

 furnish a meal. This habit is not confined to 

 honeycomb. It applies to any other kind of pro- 

 vender, as I am aware from personal observation. 

 144 



