Researchers may have finally cracked the centuries-old mystery of why African honeyguide birds sometimes lead human honey-hunters to dangerous animals instead of bees: they could just be recall errors.
Honeyguides (Indicator indicator) are famed for guiding honey-hunters to wild bees’ nests in exchange for rewards of beeswax. But since the 1600s, Indigenous accounts have described the birds occasionally leading hunters to snakes, lions, leopards and buffaloes, with some believing this was punishment for not sharing beeswax after previous hunts. Some Western scientists have been skeptical about honeyguides’ ability to deliberately guide people to “non-bee” animals, researchers say in the new study.
In Mozambique’s Niassa Special Reserve, the researchers confirmed that honeyguides led them and Yao honey-hunters to non-bee animals four times in 2018. These included a puff adder (Bitis arietans) and a black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) — two of Africa’s most venomous snakes — a rock python (Python natalensis) and a dead galago (Otolemur garnettii), a small nocturnal primate. All three snakes were basking in the open when encountered.
Each time, the birds switched to the same distinctive “indication” calls, typically used to signal that a bees’ nest is close, and swooped down toward the snakes, as they do when nests are near the ground, said David Lloyd-Jones, the study’s lead author from the University of Cape Town. “That’s what gave us a level of confidence [to believe] that what we were observing was a deliberate behavior,” he said, adding the study supports what honey-hunters have said for generations.
Despite the small sample size, the researchers say they don’t think the birds were being vindictive; the non-bee incidents weren’t correlated with prior lack of beeswax reward.
Rather, the team suggests the birds were making rare “spatial recall errors,” mistaking other memorized locations for a food source. Similar mistakes have been documented in Northern Hemisphere birds like nuthatches and chickadees that store food for winter.
“Honeyguides are remembering where a snake is, or they’re remembering where a dead animal is,” Lloyd-Jones said. “Once in a while, but very rarely, a honeyguide is guiding you to that location rather than guiding you to bees.”
The Yao themselves see honeyguides’ behavior as providing helpful warnings about potential dangers, Lloyd-Jones added. “Their interpretation is a very positive one.”
Such cultural beliefs benefit the birds, the researchers say, encouraging hunters to leave rewards.
Jessica van der Wal, a researcher with the Max Planck–University of Cape Town Centre for Behaviour and Coevolution, who wasn’t involved in the study, said honey-hunters across Africa describe the birds leading them to non-bee animals, especially snakes. She agreed all cultural interpretations are valuable.
“They reflect the deep respect and value the bird holds, reinforcing the importance of treating it well and ensuring that this mutualistic relationship is passed down through generations.”
Banner image: Yao honey-hunter Seliano Rucunua holds a wild honeyguide — briefly captured for research, then released — that guided him to a bees’ nest. Image by David Lloyd-Jones.
Credits
