Nature & Environment
A Wild Bird, Honeyguide, Leads Human Honey Hunters To Bee's Nest
Elaine Hannah
First Posted: Jul 22, 2016 07:51 AM EDT
Honeyguide, an African wild bird, helps the human honey hunters, who are in search of honey. It guides and leads them to honey, according to a study.
Claire Spottiswoode of the University of Cambridge in the UK said that these wild birds are definitely not domesticated and they are in no way coerced. She further said that they are not taught in any conventional way as well. She added that humans are not deliberately going up there and training honeyguides, as noted by NPR.
Spottiswoode also said that by following honeyguides, human honey hunters can really augment their rate of finding bees nests. A study in 1989, which was published in the journal Science, showed that the honeyguides could really lead you to honey. The African birds will flutter in front of people, tweet and fly from tree to another tree to lead hunters to bees' nests that are hidden inside the trunks of the hollow trees.
Honeyguides belong in the species of the order Piciformes. They are also referred to as honey birds or indicator birds. They are known for their interaction and communication with humans. They would directly lead humans to bee colonies. They are dull-colored yet some of them have bright yellow coloring in the plumage. They have light outer tail feathers.
Richard Wrangham, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University said that in their new study the honeyguides pay careful attention not just to sounds made by humans, but particularly to the sounds that are designed by humans to fascinate honeyguides. He further said that this is really an extraordinary relationship. He also thought that this collaboration might go back over than a million years, wherein the birds may have developed an innate desire to guide people to honey.
Spottiswoode was having tremendously good fun when she talked to a little wild bird that listened and led her to the trees.
"I don't think I've ever had as much fun in my life," said Spottiswoode.
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First Posted: Jul 22, 2016 07:51 AM EDT
Honeyguide, an African wild bird, helps the human honey hunters, who are in search of honey. It guides and leads them to honey, according to a study.
Claire Spottiswoode of the University of Cambridge in the UK said that these wild birds are definitely not domesticated and they are in no way coerced. She further said that they are not taught in any conventional way as well. She added that humans are not deliberately going up there and training honeyguides, as noted by NPR.
Spottiswoode also said that by following honeyguides, human honey hunters can really augment their rate of finding bees nests. A study in 1989, which was published in the journal Science, showed that the honeyguides could really lead you to honey. The African birds will flutter in front of people, tweet and fly from tree to another tree to lead hunters to bees' nests that are hidden inside the trunks of the hollow trees.
Honeyguides belong in the species of the order Piciformes. They are also referred to as honey birds or indicator birds. They are known for their interaction and communication with humans. They would directly lead humans to bee colonies. They are dull-colored yet some of them have bright yellow coloring in the plumage. They have light outer tail feathers.
Richard Wrangham, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University said that in their new study the honeyguides pay careful attention not just to sounds made by humans, but particularly to the sounds that are designed by humans to fascinate honeyguides. He further said that this is really an extraordinary relationship. He also thought that this collaboration might go back over than a million years, wherein the birds may have developed an innate desire to guide people to honey.
Spottiswoode was having tremendously good fun when she talked to a little wild bird that listened and led her to the trees.
"I don't think I've ever had as much fun in my life," said Spottiswoode.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone