Cooperation between humans and the honeyguide
Cooperación entre humanos y el indicador de la miel
- Date
- 1989 · confidence high
- Place
- Marsabit region, Kenya
- Credited to
- Hussein Isack and Hans-Ulrich Reyer
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Isack and Reyer showed that the greater honeyguide (Indicator indicator) leads Boran hunters to bees' nests and that they, with whistles and smoke, reward it by leaving the wax. It is one of the few mutualisms between a wild animal and humans.
Spottiswoode and colleagues (2016) showed with the Yao of Niassa (Mozambique) that the specific human call increases the bird's help. The study location is approximate.
What it led to
- the study of cross-species communication (Spottiswoode, 2016)
- an example of cultural coevolution
- conservation of honey-hunting cultures