- “We cannot keep it a secret. We need to come forward! ”
- ―Dr. Madge Honey Badger about the savagery of the missing mammals
Dr. Madge Honey Badger is a female honey badger and a doctor in Zootopia.
Role in the Film[]
Dr. Madge is assigned by Mayor Lionheart to research the condition of the 15 savage mammals at Cliffside Asylum. However, she is unable to find the cause of their savagery.
Lionheart is frustrated at her lack of progress and Dr. Madge says that it might be time to "consider their biology", as the only animals going savage are predators. She states that the public needs to be made aware of this, only to be countered by Lionheart, who reminds her that he himself is a predator and sharing that information could ruin him.
Unbeknownst to them, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde have been covertly recording this conversation. Unfortunately, they are exposed when Judy's phone goes off and Dr. Madge calls security to sweep the area.
Dr. Madge and Lionheart are arrested when Judy notifies the police of the missing mammals.
Relationships[]
Mayor Lionheart[]
Dr. Madge's relationship with the Mayor of Zootopia seems to be fairly tenuous. At the Mayor's insistence, Dr. Madge is put onto the case of investigating why the predators around Zootopia are going savage.
In one of her brief meetings with Mayor Lionheart, which can be assumed to be fairly regular, she hypothesizes that the savagery may be down to biology.
Observations[]
The exchange between Lionhart and Honeybadger highlights two interesting points about the story.
Judy's Bias[]
The writers wanted to make sure that Judy's disastrous performance at the press conference was caused by her revealing her own bias and not by her accidentally saying the wrong thing because she was under pressure.
Judy always believed that predators had an innate savagery to them as revealed during her play at the start of the film. When Dr. Honeybadger talks about biology at Cliffside, it sparks a connection in Judy about when she talked about predators and their "uncontrollable biological urge to maim and maul".
This can be seen when Dr. Honeybadger says "consider their biology". There's a brief cutaway to show Judy and Nick's reactions. Judy's face lights up as if "predator biology" explains the savage behavior she's seen on the case. Nick, however, clearly looks offended at the suggestion.
So, at the press conference after admitting the ZPD doesn't know why predators are turning savage, Judy stumbles into an explanation that's very much a rewording of her description of predators from the play she wrote which opened the film.
Lionheart's Motivation[]
Lionheart is definitely a consummate politician, but it's worth noting that he doesn't use the term "predator" or "savage" when he is first talking with Dr. Honeybadger. He specifically says he's got "a dozen and half animals here who have gone off-the-rails crazy". His confused reaction to Dr. Honeybadger's suggestion to "consider their biology" suggests that this is the first time he's become aware that only predators are being affected.
This lends weight to Lionheart's motivation that his setting up the hospital facilities at Cliffside Asylum was to discover the cause of why the animals were going crazy and be able to treat them before it starts a public panic and not that it was solely motivated by his desire to preserve his political career.
Trivia[]
- The character Honey Badger was scrapped and remade into Dr. Madge.
- Dr. Madge is incorrectly referred to as being male in A Big Golden Book: Zootopia.
- Dr. Madge is the only badger in the film.
Gallery[]
Dr. Madge Honey Badger/Gallery.