In some places, humans and wildlife are ‘business partners.’ The relationships may not last

Some content has been removed for formatting reasons. Please view the original article for the best reading experience. Many of us grow attached to animals, whether it’s by raising a puppy or regularly feeding a crow on the porch. But for millennia, certain communities around the world have formed a different sort of bond—one where animals are more like business partners than pets. Dolphins herd fish for fishermen , for example, and some African tribes work with birds to find honey . Collaborations like these are dying off, however, says Jessica van der Wal, a behavioral ecologist at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology who studies the honey hunters. In a paper published today in Conservation Letters , she and her colleagues provide a toolkit for documenting and preserving these partnerships . Science chatted with van der Wal about the complex relationships some humans form with wildlife—and what we can do to protect them. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. In multiple locations, fishermen team up with dolphins to catch fish. Ignacio Moreno Q: How do humans use birds to find honey? A: Our main field site is in northern Mozambique, where people still depend on wild honey as a source of income. Honey hunters attract birds called greater honeyguides (Indicator indicator) by using loud sounds—a wide range of whistles an...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news