Birds and Humans Working Together for Honey

Researchers have discovered that African hunter-gatherers are receiving a helping hand in the quest for honey.  Greater Honeyguides not only respond to human calls from various geographical groups but assist them in locating honey-rich bees nests.  The birds receive the wax from the bees' nests as a reward for helping the humans.  This relationship works perfectly as the humans need a better way of tracking down the nests and the birds need access to the wax.

"The new study provides the first solid evidence of two-way, collaborative communication between humans and a nonhuman animal in the wild."

The humans have various calls for the birds, including a loud trill followed by a grunt to a whistling sound.  The birds respond with a chattering sound announcing their arrival.  The current question at hand is how this relationship came to be.  It is possible that this hunting relationship has been going on for over 1 million years.  Researchers aim to learn if this behavior is observed and learned by young Greater Honeyguides from their parents.

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-a-wild-bird-leads-people-to-honey

Decision making in bee swarms mimics neurons in human brain

This article talks about a new study based upon the movements of bees. A professor of neurobiology and behavior reports with five colleagues from the United States and the United Kingdom on the inhibitory stop signals that the clusters of scout bees use to make decisions and determine decisions. This study is the first to tackle how bees act when on the hunt for resources and a location. I found this article interesting because there is always talk about the bee populations dissappearing. The full article can be found at:http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/12/08/decision_making_in_bee_swarms_mimic_neurons_in_human_brains_.html