An Early Branch of the Weasel Family: teacher key

Honey Badgers, grade 12 edition, written for 12th grade and up. DNA, fossils, laboratory assays and bone modelling place the honey badger on its own old branch, and show how much about it is still unsettled.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did the 2008 multigene DNA study find?
   • Honey badgers are close kin of Eurasian badgers
   • Honey badgers are otters
   • Honey badgers and the American badger were early branches of the weasel family (answer)
2. About how old is the oldest Kenyan record of Mellivora capensis?
   • About 10 million years (answer)
   • About 100 years
   • About 16 million years
3. What did the 2021 assay confirm about position 187?
   • It speeds up digging
   • It reduces binding to alpha-neurotoxins (answer)
   • It makes skin thicker
4. Why does looking alike not prove two badgers are close relatives?
   • DNA can place look-alikes on different branches (answer)
   • Their sizes differ
   • They never share habitats
5. What does assay mean in this book?
   • A kind of bone
   • A lab test (answer)
   • A scent mark

Words

• lineage: line of descent
• assay: lab test
• Miocene: a geologic epoch
• sister: closest relative
• curvature: how bent