Honeyguides are a family of near passerine birds found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. There are 17 species of honeyguides that belong to seven genera. Honeyguides are best known for their unique, mutually beneficial relationship with humans – they guide people to bee colonies, then feast on the remains once the hive has been opened. But do honeyguides actually eat bees themselves?
Do Honeyguides Eat Bees?
The short answer is yes, honeyguides do consume bees. However, bees and their larvae make up only a small part of the honeyguide diet. Honeyguides are opportunistic feeders and eat a variety of insects, arthropods, reptiles, fruits and nectar. Bees, wasps, hornets and their brood are eaten, but do not make up a major food source.
Honeyguides have strong, thick-set beaks that are adept at chiseling and excavation. While the beaks can crunch through a bee’s hard exoskeleton, honeyguides prefer softer-bodied insects that are easier to digest. Bees pack a powerful sting as a defense, which serves as another deterrent to hungry honeyguides.
So in summary:
- Honeyguides do consume bees, but bees only make up a small part of their diet.
- They prefer softer-bodied insects like caterpillars.
- A bee’s sting provides a strong defense against predation.
- Bee larvae are easier for honeyguides to digest than adult bees.
Honeyguide Diet
The honeyguide diet consists mainly of insects, insect larvae, arthropods and other small invertebrates. Some common food sources include:
- Bees, wasps, hornets
- Caterpillars and other insect larvae
- Cockroaches
- Grasshoppers
- Crickets
- Ants
- Termites
- Spiders
- Centipedes
- Scorpions
- Snails
- Earthworms
In addition to invertebrates, honeyguides supplement their diet with other food sources such as:
- Fruit
- Nectar
- Pollen
- Seeds
- Flower buds
- Lizards
- Chameleons
- Small snakes
The variety of prey allows honeyguides to adapt to different habitats across Africa. Their wide-ranging diet also lets them take advantage of seasonally available food sources.
Foraging Behavior
Honeyguides are intelligent, resourceful foragers and employ a variety of strategies to find food:
- Glean stationary or slow-moving insects off of leaves, branches and trunks.
- Probe into holes and crevices in trees, walls and soil.
- Excavate hives to access bee/wasp larvae.
- Catch flying insects on the wing.
- Follow swarming ants and termites.
- Follow larger animals and snatch up insects flushed from vegetation.
- Consume nectar from flowers of Baobab, Erythrina, Kapok trees.
- Pluck fruits directly from trees and bushes.
This versatility allows honeyguides to thrive across diverse habitats despite competition from other insectivorous bird species. Their ability to uncover hidden food sources gives them an advantage over less intelligent predators.
Relationship with Humans
The mutually beneficial relationship between honeyguides and humans is a remarkable example of cooperation between two very different species. Honeyguides guide humans to bee colonies by:
- Capturing the attention of nearby humans through loud chirruping calls and fluttering displays.
- Flying short distances from tree to tree to indicate the direction of a hive.
- Aggressively mobbing humans who follow, to keep their attention.
Once at the hive, the honeyguide waits while the humans smoke out and open the nest to extract honey and larvae. The honeyguide then feeds on the remaining wax and bee brood. This relationship provides the bird with an easy meal, while humans gain access to honey they would be unable to find alone.
Wax Digestion
One unique adaptation of honeyguides is their ability to safely digest beeswax. Beeswax consists mainly of esters of long-chain alcohols and fatty acids – compounds difficult for most animals to break down and utilize. However, honeyguides have evolved a special enzyme called esterase that allows them to digest wax and utilize the fatty acids and alcohols contained within.
This gives them an advantage at bee hive sites, where they can feast on the energy-rich wax while other animals are unable to make use of the leftover combs.
Bee Stings and Self-Anointing Behavior
While honeyguides have adaptations to handle beeswax, adult bees still pose a danger. Their powerful stings can injure soft tissues and deliver painful venom. Some evidence indicates that honeyguides may use a unique behavior known as “self-anointing” to protect themselves from stings.
Self-anointing involves rubbing secretions from ants, millipedes and other arthropods over their feathers before approaching a bee colony. It is thought that this may provide some protection from stings, either as an insect repellent, antimicrobial protection, or through pharmacological effects of absorbed chemicals.
By applying secretions selectively before raiding nests, honeyguides seem to show an innate understanding of the dangers posed by bees. This provides another example of their intelligence and adaptability.
Impact on Bee Populations
Given their predilection for raiding hives, an obvious question is whether honeyguides have any impact on native bee populations. Currently, there is no evidence that honeyguides threaten the survival of local bee species. Several factors likely prevent honeyguides from over-exploiting hive resources:
- Only a small portion of the honeyguide population participates in guiding humans.
- Most guided raids are done on colonies of Apis mellifera – an introduced species in Africa.
- Native bees utilize small, well-hidden nests that are more difficult for honeyguides to access.
- Honeyguides consume only a portion of the brood/honey before moving on.
- Raiding parties do not target the queen which allows the hive to recover.
So while honeyguides certainly raid native bee nests, there is no evidence that this threatens the larger bee populations. The mutualism between honeyguides and humans poses a larger threat to the introduced A. mellifera colonies kept by African beekeepers.
Conclusion
In summary, honeyguides do consume both adult and larval bees as part of their diverse insectivorous diet. However, bees make up a relatively small portion of their overall food intake. Honeyguides prefer softer-bodied insect prey like caterpillars which are easier to digest. Their unique adaptation for digesting beeswax gives them an advantage at raided bee colonies. While honeyguides pilfer hives, they do not appear to threaten native bee populations. Their specialized mutualism with humans provides both species with benefits but may have a larger impact on managed honeybee hives.