Bird that leads to the discovery of honey

Researchers call the honey and the bird was approaching and leads to hives of bees hidden in the woods. This is the unwritten pact established between members of the Yao tribe in Mozambique and a small bird called "roadmap grykëzi.

The behavior of this bird is known for a long time, and was signaling to the late 16th century by a Portuguese missionary. But now a group of researchers studied a real experiment on the ground than is efficient rare cooperation between man and bird.

Researchers sought to know whether it really is stabilized communication between "us" and "them".

Collaboration sweet

Grykëzi roadmap is about 20 cm tall and weighs 50 grams and is well known for its ability to lead to wild beehives. Finding an activity that honey is still some African tribes apply in sub-Saharan Africa.

The man opened the hive, and the bird of wax remains, which he loves and is among the few who can digest. Among others eat small larvae.

Researchers led by evolutionary biologist studying Claire Spottiswoode of the University of Cambridge's, studied the cooperation between the bird and the honey hunters Yao tribe, sitting in the Niassa reserve's national, north of Mozambique.

Bird makes a distinctive sound to signal that he has found honey, and moving from one tree to another that leads to the location.

But even members of the tribe emit a distinctive sound to rithërritur when they want to launch a search. A short irons and timbre of the voice, followed by a kind of grunt, about 20 men tribe told researchers that they learned from their fathers.

Safe Guide

To test the effectiveness of cooperation, the researchers followed the tribe members during the search of honey. When was the bird guide, search effectively closed three times in four discovery of honey. And not only that. The researchers wanted to test whether the sound that used to attract birds serve.

They recorded the sound of the call and then went along to reserve areas for nearly a week. They issued another sound or sound evocative unused in these parts and use a courtesy call, but for other circumstances.

Birds were introduced to make the roadmap then double cases 66% compared with 33% when the call went out deliberately to launch honey hunting.

The study showed that in these cases, in 80% of cases found a beehive.

How they learn?

It is not clear how this cooperative behavior is transmitted from one generation to the other birds. Bird guide makes eggs in the nests of other species and so the little ones do not grow up with their biological parents. In addition, the call is specific. It is documented that other tribes use other sounds to call. According to the researchers, overall behavior, probably was born, and local adaptation of the little birds taught by adults who practice feeding.