Birds and honey badgers could be cooperating to steal from bees in parts of Africa

This Disneyesque tale of two species cooperating for mutual benefit has captivated naturalists for centuries – but is it true?

In the first large-scale search for evidence of the interaction, a team of young researchers from nine African countries, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town, conducted nearly 400 interviews with honey-hunters across Africa.

“While researching honeyguides, we've been guided to bees’ nests by honeyguide birds thousands of times, but none of us have ever seen a bird and a badger interact to find honey,” said Dr Jessica van der Wal at the University of Cape Town, lead author of the study.

“It’s well-established that honeyguides lead humans to bees’ nests, but evidence for bird and badger cooperation in the literature is patchy."

Dr Jessica van der Wal, University of Cape Town, lead author of the study.

She added: "It tends to be old, second-hand accounts of someone saying what their friend saw. So we decided to ask the experts directly.”