special reading - communication - 2 - reciprocal signalling in honeyguide - human- mutualism Flashcards

1
Q

what is the question?

A

do honeyguides in turn exploit specialised signals directed at them by humans

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2
Q

background info

A
  • African honeyguide birds lead human hunters to bee colonies, and the humans, leave enough mess for the birds to feast on
  • rare example of communication between humans and a wild animal
  • mozambiquen honey hunters use a special call too request help from the birds - suggests the birds are able to attach the specific meaning to a humans call
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3
Q

what are the methods/general info?

A
  • First established whether information provided by honeyguides was accurate, trailed guiding events. 75.3% of guiding events led to the successful discovery by humans of at least one bees nest.
  • next investigated whether the signals used by humans provided reliable information to honeyguides. Interviewed 20 Yao honey-hunters all of whom reported that they used a specific call for honey hunting purposes and nothing else.
  • examined whether honeyguides associated this vocal signal with a higher chance of a payoff from cooperation. If so , then honeyguides should be more likely to initiate collaboration with humans producing this honey-hunting sound rather then other sounds.
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4
Q

Methods (2)

A

Carried out 72, 15-min experimental transects simulating honey-hunting forays , in which an investigator and two local honey hunters walked while playing one of three acoustic cues every 7s.

1) a control human sound (a Yao word or phrase)
2) A control animal sound
3) The specialised “brrr-hm” honey hunting sound

response of honey hunters was measured.

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5
Q

Results

A
  • guided by a honeyguide on 30 of 72 transects
  • Transects accompanied by the honey-hunting call had a 66.7% probability of eliciting guiding from a honeyguide, which was significantly greater then that for transects accompanied by the other two sounds.
  • Overall honey-hunting sound resulted in a 52.4% chance of finding bees nest
  • production of honey hunting sound more then tripled chance of finding bees nest
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6
Q

Meaning of results

A

-Results show that honeyguides correctly attach meaning and subsequently respond to human signal of recruitment (behaviour previously only associated with domestic animals)

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