For centuries, a captivating tale has circulated among naturalists – the story of a unique partnership between the honeyguide bird and the honey badger. This narrative, often likened to a Disney movie plot, depicts the honeyguide, with its craving for beeswax, leading the honey badger to bees’ nests. The badger, in turn, with its strength, tears open the nest, granting both species access to the sweet rewards within. But how much of this enchanting story is based on fact, and what is the actual Type Of Relationship With Honey Guide Bird/badger?
“Having spent considerable time researching honeyguides, and being guided by them to bees’ nests countless times, it’s surprising that direct interaction between birds and badgers in honey-finding is so elusive,” notes Dr. Jessica van der Wal from the University of Cape Town, the lead author of a recent study investigating this very question. “While honeyguides expertly guide humans, the evidence for bird and badger cooperation has always been anecdotal, relying on older, secondhand accounts. This prompted us to seek answers directly from those with firsthand experience: honey hunters themselves.”
In a groundbreaking study, the first of its scale, a team of researchers spanning nine African nations, under the guidance of the Universities of Cambridge and Cape Town, conducted nearly 400 interviews with seasoned honey-hunters across Africa. These communities, deeply connected to the land, have generations of experience in harvesting wild honey, often with the invaluable assistance of honeyguide birds.
Image alt text: Honey badger captured by trail camera consuming beeswax and honeycomb after human honey harvest, demonstrating badger’s appetite for bee products.
The survey revealed a widespread skepticism about the purported cooperation. A significant majority of the surveyed communities expressed doubt, with 80% stating they had never witnessed any interaction between honeyguide birds and honey badgers. However, responses from three communities in Tanzania presented a striking contrast. Within these Tanzanian groups, many individuals recounted firsthand observations of honeyguide birds and honey badgers working in tandem to access honey and beeswax from bees’ nests. The Hadzabe honey-hunters, in particular, stood out, with 61% reporting sightings of this interspecies collaboration.
Dr. Brian Wood of the University of California, Los Angeles, a co-author of the study, explains, “The Hadzabe hunter-gatherers, with their quiet and observant approach to hunting with bows and arrows, are uniquely positioned to witness subtle wildlife interactions without disruption. The fact that over half of these hunters have witnessed these interactions, albeit rarely, is compelling.” The findings were published in the Journal of Zoology.
Image alt text: Honey badger expertly feeding on honeycomb in Mozambique reserve, highlighting their natural foraging behavior and diet.
Analyzing the Potential Badger-Honeyguide Partnership
To understand the nature of this potential relationship with honey guide bird/badger, the researchers meticulously broke down the sequence of events required for successful cooperation. Certain steps appear plausible, such as a honeyguide bird spotting and approaching a badger. However, other aspects remain uncertain. The idea of a honeyguide actively “chattering” to guide a badger to a bees’ nest raises questions, especially considering badgers’ known limitations.
Honey badgers are recognized for their poor hearing and eyesight, which are not ideal traits for following the subtle cues of a chattering bird. This leads researchers to consider the possibility that the cooperative behavior might be specific to certain Tanzanian badger populations. These groups may have developed, and subsequently passed down through generations, the necessary skills and understanding to engage in this unique interspecies partnership with honeyguides.
Another possibility is that badger-bird cooperation is more widespread across Africa than currently recognized, but simply remains largely unobserved due to the challenges of field observation. Dr. Dominic Cram from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, a senior author of the study, points out a significant obstacle, “The presence of humans complicates observation. It becomes difficult to definitively know if a honeyguide bird is signaling to a human observer or a badger in the vicinity.”
Image alt text: Honey hunter skillfully harvesting a bees’ nest in Mozambique, showcasing human expertise in accessing wild honey with smoke and tools.
Despite these challenges, Dr. Cram emphasizes the importance of the Tanzanian accounts: “We must take these interview findings seriously. The consistent reports from three communities in Tanzania about witnessing honeyguide-badger interactions are unlikely to be coincidental. It strongly suggests that this type of relationship with honey guide bird/badger is a reality in certain regions.”
The study underscores the critical need for scientists to actively engage with local communities, valuing and integrating their traditional knowledge and observations into scientific research. This collaborative approach can significantly enrich and accelerate our understanding of the natural world.
A Shift in Partnership? From Badger to Human
The greater honeyguide bird, Indicator indicator, is renowned across numerous African countries for its remarkable ability to guide humans to bees’ nests, a practice that has been utilized for generations. Wild honey is a vital high-energy food source, potentially contributing up to 20% of calorie intake in some diets. The beeswax, whether shared or discarded by honey hunters, represents a valuable food resource for the honeyguide.
Humans have become adept at interpreting the calls and behaviors of honeyguides, engaging in a form of “conversation” as they are led through the landscape to wild bees’ nests. Dr. Claire Spottiswoode from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, a joint senior author of the study, explains, “Honeyguides call to humans, and humans respond – it’s an interactive exchange that facilitates the journey to the bees’ nest.”
Humans, with their mastery of fire and tools, offer significant advantages as partners to honeyguides. We can efficiently cut down trees and utilize smoke to subdue bees before accessing their nests. Honey badgers, Mellivora capensis, in contrast, are more likely to provoke bees, and aggressive bees can even pose a fatal threat to honeyguide birds through stinging.
Considering the evolutionary timescale, honeyguide birds predate modern humans and our sophisticated tools. This has led to speculation about the original evolutionary context of honeyguide behavior. “It’s been suggested that honeyguide’s guiding behavior may have initially evolved through interactions with honey badgers,” Spottiswoode notes, “but as humans emerged with superior honey-harvesting skills, the birds may have shifted their preference, opting to cooperate with humans instead. It’s a compelling hypothesis, though challenging to definitively prove.”
Further Information: The full study, titled “Do honey badgers and greater honeyguide birds cooperate to access bees’ nests? Ecological evidence and honey‐hunter accounts,” by J. E. M. van der Wal et al. is available in the Journal of Zoology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/jzo.13093.
Journal Information: Journal of Zoology
Provided by University of Cambridge.
