Wait—These Two Animals Actually Help Each Other Find Honey?.mp4

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.

Transcript

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

00:09their names might indicate they're known for their love of natural bee products now according to

00:14researchers these two creatures work together to get it in what can only be described as a

00:18remarkable example of interspecies teamwork the issue is that honey guide birds know where to

00:22find the sweet sweet honey but actually only want the waxy honeycomb and have trouble breaking into

00:27the hives to get it that's why they've teamed up with the more muscularly capable honey badgers

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

00:37so how are the birds communicating with the badgers a particular group of honey hunters

00:41in tanzania say they've seen the cooperation before explaining they've witnessed the birds

00:45approaching the badgers first the issue with capturing that interaction is that humans would

00:49have to be there and honey guide birds also use human honey hunters to get into beehives

00:54hence their nomenclature but the researchers say it's likely no coincidence that they're all in

00:58tanzania suggesting that this particular subset of badgers may have passed down the notion of

01:02following honey guide birds learning and developing a similar relationship with the honey guides that

01:07humans have also cultivated

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