We have published a new study in People and Nature showing that people in northern Mozambique use regionally distinct “dialects” when communicating with honeyguides. Led by Jessica van der Wal, the paper shows that human–honeyguide communication varies across landscapes in ways that mirror regional variation in human languages. Despite these differences in calls, cooperation between people and honeyguides remains successful and important for human livelihoods across the Niassa Special Reserve, suggesting that both species adjust to one another across their shared landscape.

Dr David Lloyd-Jones graduated with his PhD from the University of Cape Town, entitled “Cooperation, ecology and behaviour in the honeyguide-human mutualism” – congratulations, David, on this wonderful outcome of many happy years of fieldwork in the Niassa Special Reserve together with our honey-hunter collaborators and friends, supported by the Mariri Environmental Centre.

We have a new paper out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B describing human-honeyguide mutualism across the Kingdom of Eswatini. Led by Sanele Nhlabatsi and Jessica van der Wal, and co-authored by Celiwe Ngcamphala and Swati honey-hunter Gcina Dlamini, our study shows that human–honeyguide mutualism is widespread across the country, especially among young cattle-herders who team up with the greater honeyguide to find wild honey as a sweet snack. SiSwati honey-hunters call the birds with whistles, including ingenious plastic versions made from deodorant roll-on balls and PVC pipes, and thank them with beeswax, because it’s said bad luck follows if they don’t. Knowledge passes between generations and peers, and people actively maintain bees and trees. Even with fewer honey-hunters today due to jobs, schooling, and habitat loss, the tradition continues, sustained by culture and community rather than economic gain, as seen in places like Niassa Special Reserve, where honey-hunting is driven largely by its economic value.