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Article: Honey hunters follow birds to reach bees.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- March 18, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Honey hunters follow birds to reach bees
When the Boran people of Kenya find a bees' nest full of honey, they say a little bird told them about it. For years these nomadic people have claimed that the African honeyguide, Indicator indicator, uses flight patterns and calls to guide them to bees' nests. The bird then gets to eat a bit of the otherwise inaccessible honey.
Now, for the first time, ornithologists have confirmed these claims. H.A. Isack of the National Musum of Kenya and H.-U. Reyer of the Max-Planck Institute in Seewiesen, West Germany, watched Boran honey hunters work with honeyguides for three years. They report their observations in ...