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Home > "Looking For Honey? This African Bird Will Heed Your Call And Take You There"

"Looking For Honey? This African Bird Will Heed Your Call And Take You There" [1]

"A wild African bird that will famously lead people to trees filled with honeycomb seems to somehow learn the distinct whistles and calls of the human foragers who live near them.

Scientists have long puzzled over this unusual cooperative relationship between humans and a wild animal. This bird species, the Greater Honeyguide, is not domesticated at all, and no one trains them.

Yet in Tanzania, Hadza foragers can use a special whistle to attract this bird, which will then flutter down and start chattering away to lead them to honey."

Nell Greenfieldboyce reports for NPR December 7, 2023. [2]

Biodiversity [3]
Africa [4]
Public [5]
Source: NPR [2], 12/11/2023
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Source URL:https://www.sej.org/headlines/looking-honey-african-bird-will-heed-your-call-and-take-you-there

Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/looking-honey-african-bird-will-heed-your-call-and-take-you-there [2] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/12/07/1217800692/african-honeyguide-bird-calls-honey-human-cultural-evolution [3] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/biodiversity-1 [4] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/africa [5] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81