THE HONEY RATEL 
(Mellivora ratel) 
Indundundwana or Insele of Swazis and Zulus (Kirby) ; 
[celesi of Amaxosa (Stanford); Sisele of Basutos 
(Kerby) 
Tue 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 
cottont. 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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