Birds and Humans: A Sweet Collaboration in Honey Hunting

by Sedona Afeworki. age 15

While humans and animals have existed together for thousands of years, cooperation between humans and animals has only been observed in rare occasions and studies now attempt to understand why.

One cooperative relationship that has been documented is the connection between honey hunters in Africa and a small bird called the greater honeyguide. This bird leads honey hunters to beehives located in hard to reach or hidden places of branches or hollow trees. Hunters then proceed to use a bee smoker and other tools to harvest the honey. To thank the birds, the honey hunters give them beeswax as a prize. While this collaboration is beneficial for both humans and the wild honeyguides, honey hunting with these birds is a disappearing practice and only seen by a few ethnic groups in East Africa.

For many years, scientists have been intrigued by this relationship between humans and honeyguides, and recent studies show that the connection is more intricate than previously thought. In fact, honeyguides are capable of learning and reacting to specific sound signals used by different hunting communities and groups. Furthermore, humans have developed a sound system to communicate with the birds.

“We know that there is a learning process on the human side. We know that people learn different signals to communicate with birds by virtue of growing up in a certain human culture that does it a certain way.” said Brian Wood, a professor at the University of California, “We wanted to know if there is a learning process involved on the birds’ side of the relationship, too.”

In a study with honey hunters, researchers played two prerecorded honeyguide – each sound stemming from two different communities in East Africa. Researchers then recorded how often honeyguide birds would approach. “There is a two to three times higher probability of birds responding to a local honey hunter signal,” Woods stated. This study provided insight into how birds recognize and react to specific unique signals and sounds, furthermore it expanded knowledge about the complex communication between human and animals.

Along with honeyguides, humans have also been observed to collaborate with other creatures such as dolphins. Mauricio Cantor, an expert on mutualism at Oregon State University studies the cooperation between fishers in southern Brazil and bottlenose dolphins. Here, the dolphin uses signals to lure schools of mullet by slapping its tail or head. This causes the fish to move toward the shore where fishermen are waiting with nets. According to Cantor, fishermen who collaborated with dolphins caught four times more mullet while these dolphins were found to eat better and live longer.

A similar partnership between humans and dolphins can be seen in Myanmar. Freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins and fishermen work in a unique way in this setting as well. Fishermen tap on the side of their boats with sticks, alerting dolphins for assistance. The dolphins then proceed to push the fish towards the boat.

While these collaborative relationships between humans and animals have been beneficial for both parties, these connections are typically rare due to various factors such as competition, hunting ability and communication. Cantor states, “ For humans and animals to join forces like this, a few elements need to be in place…Do we have the same goal? And how are we going to coordinate to do this together? And when is the time to go? It can take many trials and errors for the populations of both humans and animals to co-evolve in such a system.”

In addition to communication challenges between humans and animals, environmental and economic factors have also played a role in hindering these relationships. In the case of the honeyguide bird, economics and land utilization changes along with population growth have changed practice. Alternative sweeteners have decreased demands for wild honey and wild areas are being put off limits for communities leading to a decay in foraging.

Collaborative relationships between humans and animals are fascinating, however they are rare and take long periods to develop. The study of these relationships gives insight into the complex communication between species and how they coexist in various ecosystems and communities.

[Source: National Geographic]