Honey badger in the context of "Predator"

A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect from the genus Apis of the largest bee family, Apidae. Honey bees are known for their construction of perennial nests within cavities (i.e. beehives) containing hexagonal cells made of secreted wax, their large colony sizes, and their routine regurgitation of digested carbohydrates as surplus food storage in the form of honey, the lattermost of which distinguishes their hives as a prized foraging target of many mellivorous animals including honey badgers, bears and human hunter-gatherers.

Although honey bees represent only a small fraction of the roughly 20,000 known species of bees, they are the bee clade most familiar to humans and are also the most valuable beneficial insects to agriculture and horticulture. The best-known honey bee species is the western honey bee (Apis mellifera), which was domesticated and farmed (i.e. beekeeping) for honey production and crop pollination. The only other domesticated species is the eastern honey bee (Apis cerana), which are raised in South, Southeast and East Asia.

Mellivory is a term for the eating of honey. Honey is a sweet and viscous substance created by some eusocial insects, notably bees, for consumption by members of their hives, especially their young. Honey is also consumed by many other animals including human beings, who have developed beekeeping to make supplies of honey both reliable and plentiful. Despite honey's limited antimicrobial properties (caused by the very high osmotic pressure of its concentrated sugars), it remains a food source for a variety of microorganisms.

Aposematism is the advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses that make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste or smell, sharp spines, or aggressive nature. These advertising signals may take the form of conspicuous coloration, sounds, odours, or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both predator and prey, because both avoid potential harm.

The term was coined in 1877 by Edward Bagnall Poulton for Alfred Russel Wallace's concept of warning coloration. Aposematism is exploited in Müllerian mimicry, wherein species with strong defences evolve to resemble one another. By mimicking similarly coloured species the warning signal to predators is shared, causing the predators to learn more quickly at less cost.

Mellivora is a genus of mustelids which contains the honey badger, or ratel (Mellivora capensis), the sole living representative of the subfamily Mellivorinae. Additionally, two extinct species are known. The honey badger is native to much of Africa and South Asia, while fossil relatives occurred in those areas and Southern Europe.