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The
honey badger has an extensive historical range which extends through most
of sub-Saharan Africa from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, to
southern Morocco and south western Algeria, and outside of Africa through
Arabia, Iran and western Asia to Turkmenistan and the Indian peninsula
(Skinner & Smithers, 1990; Harrison & Bates, 1991; F. Cuzin, pers.
comm.). Historically it is thought to be absent from the driest centre of
the Sahara desert, the Mediterranean coast as far as the Nile Valley, and
the Free State Province of South Africa (Lynch, 1983; Kingdon, 1989;
Skinner & Smithers, 1990; Begg, 2001a).
It lives in a
wide variety of habitats from the dense rain forests of Zaire to the arid
deserts on the outskirts of the Sahara and pro-Namib, from sea level to
the afro-alpine steppes in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia (> 4000 m;
Sillero-Zubiri, 1996).
In
India it is mostly found in the semi arid areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan,
madhya pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, with occasional sightings from the
moist areas such as Orissa, West Bengal and as far as Assam. South wards
it has also been reported from Tamil Nadu ( S. A Hussain in Mustelids,
Viverrids and Herpestrids of India - www.wii.gov.in/envhome/envisdec99/ratelbadger.htm)
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