OF HONEYGUIDES AND HUMANS - A UNIQUE INTERSPECIFIC ASSOCIATION FORMED OVER HONEY

摘要

Humans have been fascinated with honey ever since the dawn of civilisation, with honey hunting, i.e. gathering of honey from wild beehives dating back to more than 10,000 years. Although honey hunting has given way to honey husbandry all over the world, there are still some ethnic tribes who gather wild honey. Some of these tribes have developed unique associations with animals to help them in their hunt. This paper is a review of such a unique mutualistic relationship displayed by the birds commonly called Honeyguides with the tribal honey gatherers of Africa.