Mutualism between honeyguides, beekeepers and honey-hunters in the southern highlands of Tanzania
type: CreativeWork
description: The greater honeyguide (hereafter “honeyguide”) is a wax-eating bird species that engages in a remarkable mutualism with humans. Honeyguides use a specialised chattering call to guide honeyhunters to bees' nests, which honey-hunters harvest with the help of smoke and tools. Honey-hunters increase their harvesting yield by finding bees' nests with the help of honeyguides, and honeyguides feed on leftover beeswax. The relationship between honeyguides and honey-hunters in search of wild bees' nests has been well studied, but we know little about the relationship between honeyguides and beekeepers who harvest honey from man-made beehives. I studied the relationship between people and honeyguides in southern Tanzania, in and/or around Ruaha National Park, Rungwa Game Reserve, and Katavi National Park. I visited 20 villages and interviewed 150 people who either practice beekeeping or honey-hunting or do both. I also visited beekeeping camps to observe how people harvest and process honey, and I set camera traps to investigate the fate of beeswax left behind. Specifically, I asked: (i) what is the relationship between honeyguides and beekeepers? (ii) Does honey-hunting with honeyguides persist in southern Tanzania despite beekeeping and if so, how does it function? (iii) What are the ecosystem effects of honey harvesting in southern Tanzania? (iv) What is the future of human-honeyguide interactions in southern Tanzania? Overall, my results suggest that (i) surprisingly, the relationship between honeyguides and beekeepers is often a mutualism, because beekeepers use honeyguides to find beehives that are ready to harvest, and reward honeyguides with an empty wax comb. (ii) Despite being illegal, honey-hunting with honeyguides persists in southern Tanzania; all 66 honey-hunters mentioned that they use honeyguides to find bees ‘nests, and the majority use a specialised calls (particularly “prrrr-prrrr mama”) to communicate with honeyguides. (iii) Honey-hunters typically cut do…
abstract: The greater honeyguide (hereafter “honeyguide”) is a wax-eating bird species that engages in a remarkable mutualism with humans. Honeyguides use a specialised chattering call to guide honeyhunters to bees' nests, which honey-hunters harvest with the help of smoke and tools. Honey-hunters increase their harvesting yield by finding bees' nests with the help of honeyguides, and honeyguides feed on leftover beeswax. The relationship between honeyguides and honey-hunters in search of wild bees' nests has been well studied, but we know little about the relationship between honeyguides and beekeepers who harvest honey from man-made beehives. I studied the relationship between people and honeyguides in southern Tanzania, in and/or around Ruaha National Park, Rungwa Game Reserve, and Katavi National Park. I visited 20 villages and interviewed 150 people who either practice beekeeping or honey-hunting or do both. I also visited beekeeping camps to observe how people harvest and process honey, and I set camera traps to investigate the fate of beeswax left behind. Specifically, I asked: (i) what is the relationship between honeyguides and beekeepers? (ii) Does honey-hunting with honeyguides persist in southern Tanzania despite beekeeping and if so, how does it function? (iii) What are the ecosystem effects of honey harvesting in southern Tanzania? (iv) What is the future of human-honeyguide interactions in southern Tanzania? Overall, my results suggest that (i) surprisingly, the relationship between honeyguides and beekeepers is often a mutualism, because beekeepers use honeyguides to find beehives that are ready to harvest, and reward honeyguides with an empty wax comb. (ii) Despite being illegal, honey-hunting with honeyguides persists in southern Tanzania; all 66 honey-hunters mentioned that they use honeyguides to find bees ‘nests, and the majority use a specialised calls (particularly “prrrr-prrrr mama”) to communicate with honeyguides. (iii) Honey-hunters typically cut do…
author: Kilawi, Amana
keywords: Biological Sciences
date published: 2023
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:22:42Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Biological Sciences

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40412