2019-09-01 Reader\'s Digest

HONEY BADGER

XENOMORPH

WASP

The 30-pound honey badger has been

dubbed the most fearless animal in the

world for its willingness to take on larger

beasts, such as lions and buffalo. Aside

from an incredibly powerful jaw and a

thick, rubbery skin, the honey badger

defends itself by turning the pouch in its

rear end inside out to spray enemies

with a musky, suffocating stench. This

action sends predators fleeing, which

is exactly what you would do if someone

you just met pulled the same stunt.

Here’s another factoid: The honey badger

usually lives alone. Gee, wonder why.

Remember the film

Alien? The title character,

Xenomorph, injects its

embryo into the body of

an astronaut. A few days

later ... BAM! A baby alien

pops out of the poor guy’s

chest. Well, about a year

ago a researcher in

Australia discovered a

wasp that injects its eggs

into its victim, such as a

moth caterpillar. As the

eggs grow, they consume

the caterpillar’s insides

until they burst out of its

body as fully formed

larvae. It doesn’t end

there. Sometimes the

caterpillar survives in a

zombified state, doomed

to live out its life protect-

ing the new communal

cocoon until the day the

larvae emerge as wasps.

The researcher, obviously

a sci-fi fan, dubbed the

wasp the Dolichogenidea

xenomorph. Think of it

as another sequel in the

Alien canon.

Reader’s Digest Fascinating Facts

100 september 2019