Antics of inquisitive honey badgers caught on camera in Oman

Muscat: A pair of honey badgers in Oman have received many admirers on social media, following their inquisitive antics that have been caught on camera.

The duo were out exploring their natural habitat in the Dhofar region, where they are a native species, when they happened to come across a camera trap that had been laid by the Office for the Conservation of the Environment (OCE), which is part of the Diwan of Royal Court, to observe animal behaviour in the wild.

In the video, the two black and white badgers are first seen scampering towards the camera with their bushy tails up, while sniffing the ground, before their attention is drawn towards the recording device.
One of them, its curiosity aroused by this foreign object, begins to fervently sniff around the camera, which captures every minute of its adorable actions, before the two four-legged furry animals go on their way.

The climate of Oman’s southern Dhofar governorate is very different to the rest of the country and the surrounding regions. At present it’s Khareef season, which takes place every summer and sees the area receive plenty of cool rainfall and refreshing breeze, while the rest of the Gulf is hot and humid.

The consequence of this is the abundant wildlife found in the Dhofar, with the Office for the Conservation of the Environment running many conservation programmes to protect species in the country whose numbers are few.

Animals under these conservation projects include the Arabian deer, the Arabian leopard, the Adham Falcon, the sand deer, and the Nubian and Arabian ibexes.

The OCE also runs a number of reserves around the country to encourage the breeding and repopulation of rare species. They are found in Al Wusta, Ras Shajar, Khor Salalah, Al Khuwair, north Amerat, south Dimah, and Tayeen, among others.