Two Very Different Animals Cooperate To Find Honey!

Amaze Lab

Honey badgers and honeyguide birds have apparently formed a tag team to feed themselves. The only question is how do the two species communicate, something they are now trying to observe in the wild.

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00:00This, for the uninitiated, is a honey badger, and this is what's known as a honey guide

00:08bird.

00:09As their names might indicate, they're known for their love of natural bee products.

00:13Now, according to researchers, these two creatures work together to get it, in what can only

00:17be described as a remarkable example of interspecies teamwork.

00:21The issue is that honey guide birds know where to find the sweet, sweet honey, but actually

00:24only want the waxy honeycomb, and have trouble breaking into the hives to get it.

00:29That's why they've teamed up with the more muscularly capable honey badgers, leading

00:32them to a hive where the badgers may enjoy the honey, leaving the comb behind for the

00:36birds.

00:37So how are the birds communicating with the badgers?

00:39A particular group of honey hunters in Tanzania say they've seen the cooperation before, explaining

00:44they've witnessed the birds approaching the badgers first.

00:47The issue with capturing that interaction is that humans would have to be there, and

00:50honey guide birds also use human honey hunters to get into beehives, hence their nomenclature.

00:55But the researchers say it's likely no coincidence that they're all in Tanzania, suggesting that

00:59this particular subset of badgers may have passed down the notion of following honey

01:03guide birds, learning and developing a similar relationship with the honey guides that humans

01:07have also cultivated.

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