Honey badgers and honeyguide birds have apparently formed a tag team to feed themselves. The only question is how do the two species communicate, something they are now trying to observe in the wild.
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00:00This, for the uninitiated, is a honey badger, and this is what's known as a honey guide
00:08bird.
00:09As their names might indicate, they're known for their love of natural bee products.
00:13Now, according to researchers, these two creatures work together to get it, in what can only
00:17be described as a remarkable example of interspecies teamwork.
00:21The issue is that honey guide birds know where to find the sweet, sweet honey, but actually
00:24only want the waxy honeycomb, and have trouble breaking into the hives to get it.
00:29That's why they've teamed up with the more muscularly capable honey badgers, leading
00:32them to a hive where the badgers may enjoy the honey, leaving the comb behind for the
00:36birds.
00:37So how are the birds communicating with the badgers?
00:39A particular group of honey hunters in Tanzania say they've seen the cooperation before, explaining
00:44they've witnessed the birds approaching the badgers first.
00:47The issue with capturing that interaction is that humans would have to be there, and
00:50honey guide birds also use human honey hunters to get into beehives, hence their nomenclature.
00:55But the researchers say it's likely no coincidence that they're all in Tanzania, suggesting that
00:59this particular subset of badgers may have passed down the notion of following honey
01:03guide birds, learning and developing a similar relationship with the honey guides that humans
01:07have also cultivated.