Experiments have shown that bee-eating hosts
are oblivious to the size of the eggs and blithely
incubate eggs that are significantly larger than
their own. Researchers put this theory to test by
placing a conspicuously foreign egg into a bee-
eater nest and waited until a female honeyguide
approached to lay her egg. They observed that
every egg in the nest was punctured, but the
foreign egg was particularly severely pierced,
concluding that these anomalous eggs were
mistaken as rival honeyguide eggs [6].
Aside from the honeyguide, natural cases of
cooperation between humans and wild animals
are rare, but not unheard of. Fishermen in Laguna,
Brazil, collaborate with local dolphins to catch fish.
Every autumn, local bottlenose dolphins (
Tursiops
truncates
) herd schools of mullet toward a line of
waiting fishermen. These helpful creatures then use
specific head and tail slaps to signal the fishermen
to cast their nets. What exactly the dolphins derive
from this action is a mystery; the pod may be
leveraging the chaos to catch larger mullet with
less effort. The benefit to fishermen, however, is
much more obvious. Analogous to honeyguides,
cooperative fishing increases the frequency of net
casting, the volume of fish in each catch, as well
as the average size of the fish brought to shore [7].
Dolphins are well-known to be highly social
and intelligent creatures. Those in Laguna may be
mimicking learned cooperative
behaviour from each other and their
parents. Mother dolphins are often
observed pushing their young toward
the fish as encouragement. In turn, the
fishermen impart their fishing knowledge
to their children as a means to continue
the tradition.
As areas in Africa urbanise,
the fruitful relationship between
honeygu i de s and t he Yao
peop l e a re be i ng c rowded
out. The availability of store-
bought honey and other
sugary goods means that
peop l e depend l es s
on the honeyguide,
and the pract ice
o f g u i d i n g i s
slowly becoming
obsolete. The race is on to uncover
the evolutionary mysteries of this
peculiar mutualistic interaction
before it is too late [8].
[6] Spottiswoode, C. Honeyguide birds destroy own species’ eggs to eliminate competition (2013).
Cambridge
Research Impact
. Retrieved from
-
s
[7] Roman, J. Fishing with Dolphins – An astonishing cooperative venture in which every species wins but the
fish. Retrieved from
_
[8] Greenfieldboyce, N. How Wild Birds Team Up with Humans to Guide Them to Honey (2016). The Salt.
Retrieved from
