Honeyguides & Humans

AAAS: “Birds that lead people to honey recognize local calls from their human helpers,” There is a partnership between the aply named honeyguide birds + people in several parts of Africa. The bird locates + recalls a bee nest in a tree trunk, then seeks out reliable humans to trek to the tree, chop open the trunk + use smoke to pacify the furious bees. What the birds get out of the partnership is the scrumptious wax + bee larvae. The humans get the honey. “Honeyguides sometimes solicit people to follow them, but honey hunters can also invite the birds to help,” with calls specific to individual areas, including ‘calls’ of the Yao people in northern Mozambique + complex ‘whistles’ of the Hadza community of northern Tanzania. “At sites in Tanzania and Mozambique, researchers and honey hunters tramped through the bush playing recordings of the Yao calls, Hadza whistles, or humans yelling their names, which served as a control.” In Mozambique the birds were 2 times more likely to respond to the Yao call than the other alternative sounds. In Tanzania honeyguides were 3 times more likely to hook up with a group playing Hadza whistles. The researchers determined the calls + whistles faded equally rapidly in the 2 jungle locations. Humans are making extraordinary changes to the planet + its biodiversity, but the birds ‘provide a positive example of an animal that can live alongside people…[which] opens up possibilities for cooperation and coexistence.’