How some African tribes use miniature birds for hunting (4 photos)

This is one of the most unconventional and mutually beneficial relationships that “business partners” have on Earth.





Why do honey experts need an assistant?

Honeyguides, like other birds, feed on insects and plant foods, but their favorite delicacy is beeswax with leftover honey. And this is extremely unusual for birds. The honeyeater is the only bird in nature that can digest this heavy product. At the same time, honey guides themselves are unable to get close to the wax.



Extracting the filling from a forest hive, photo:

Bee stings are extremely painful and dangerous for them. That is why cunning honey hunters use humans to get to the delicacy. The birds lead him to a hive located in a hollow tree. In turn, the Africans fumigate the insects, they fall asleep, and then the hunters extract honey. After this, people leave small pieces of wax for their feathered colleagues. And they begin to feast!

Unique signals to each other.

Such cooperation has been going on for many centuries. To do this, honey hunters came up with a special signal in their bird language to attract the attention of bipeds. These sparrow-sized birds fly up to the Africans and often begin to flutter their wings in place. At the same time, they loudly make sounds: “Teeirrr-teeerr-tir”, which are unusual for them in any other situation.

When the birds see that the natives are running after them, they lead them through the forest until the target appears. Honey guides fly over the tops of trees, from time to time returning to their hunting partners, and this is how this process occurs. In response, Africans came up with their own signals to tell the honey hunters that it was time to hit the road. Moreover, each tribe makes individual sounds, and smart birds get used to them.





A delicacy hunter from the Yao tribe and his feathered friend.

Honeyguides living in Tanzania respond 81% of the time to the melodic whistle of the local Hadza tribe. But they practically do not respond to the vibrating trill of the Yao people from Mozambique. In turn, honey experts from Mozambique showed the opposite result: 75% and 25% were not in favor of the Hadza tribe. Well, in order for this skill to be passed on to their descendants, Africans teach children to “talk” to smart birds from an early age.

How honeyguides teach their chicks to communicate with humans still remains a mystery. Most likely, young honeykeepers observe the behavior of adult birds and learn from their experience.

Scientists' opinion.

Scientists from Europe and the USA for many decades did not believe in mutually beneficial cooperation between honey guides and Africans. They considered conversations about such things to be tales and a kind of anecdote, although back in 1588 the Portuguese missionary Joao Santos wrote about how honey experts help people find wild honey. He himself took part in the hunt. Moreover, the missionary reported that honeyguides love to peck at wax candles.



Only in 1989, after a thorough study of the strange bird, it turned out that this rare example of coevolution was true. The scientists' surprise knew no bounds. Only now they are more concerned about something else. Civilization came to the “Dark Continent” and now Africans prefer to breed their own bees, and they practically no longer need to hunt for wild honey. The natives no longer need the services of honey guides, which makes me very sad. After all, honey hunters are left without their favorite delicacy, and because of this they may disappear.