There’s something incredibly satisfying about solving a puzzle. Today, we have for you a visual puzzle by BBC Earth: you must locate the tiny badger in a herd of zebras. If you think this will be a piece of cake, think again. Zebras and badgers seem extremely different, and they are. In terms of location, Zebras are native to Africa while badgers can be found in North America, Great Britain, Ireland, and many other places around the world. Size wise, zebras are more comparable to horses while badgers hardly ever reach over a foot tall. But they often share one defining characteristic: black and white stripes (of course, this will depend on the badger). Thousands of netizens have taken this challenge via Facebook and have expressed their frustration, some saying that it is impossible. We’ve add some hints, including a photo of a real life badger and a cartoon one, but if you’re the type to solve a puzzle until the bitter end, don’t scroll past the Hufflepuff graphic. We’ve provided the answer at the very bottom.We’ll give you a small hint before you begin. The badger is much smaller than the zebras.
Badgers are those small mammals with coarse hair of black, brown, gold or white. They’re members of Mustelidae, which means they are related to ferrets, minks, otters, weasels, and wolverines. They’re also nocturnal. Where can you find them? Well, they prefer to live in dry, open grasslands, but they can also be found in woods, sea cliffs, moorland, and more. They’re prominent in the Great Plains, the western U.S., and parts of Canada and Mexico, says the University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web. Badgers, depending on the type of species, can be found all over the world.
The badger is the official mascot of Hufflepuff, one of the four houses at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. According the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling, here’s the type that belongs to this house: “You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil” —The Sorting Hat Why the badger? Well, like many magic folk at Hogwarts, the badger is often underestimated. They seem small and meager, but they can actually defend themselves from much larger animals, just as those in Hufflepuff can brave battles against great enemies. Another famous badger is Trufflehunter, depicted as a hero in C.S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian. The badger is also the state animal of Wisconsin.
Some viewers complained that they’ve been staring at the graphic for over an hour with no success. If you have time, we encourage you to keep going! But if you’re short on time and/or patience, scroll down for the answer so you can feel at peace.
What did you think? Was this puzzle easy, okay, difficult, or impossible?
