Honey guide birds alert and direct badgers to bee hives. The badgers then expose the hives and feed on the honey first. Then the honey guide birds eat the honey.

Question

Who benefits?
Who is harmed?
Who is neutral?
What relationship is this?

Answer 1

In the interaction between honey guide birds and badgers, the relationships can be analyzed as follows:

Who benefits?

• Honey guide birds: They benefit because they are able to access honey after the badgers have exposed the hives.
• Badgers: They benefit by being able to eat the honey from the hives first, as they have the strength to open them.

Who is harmed?

• Bees: The bees are harmed in this interaction, as their hives are being invaded by the badgers and the honey is taken, which can lead to the destruction of the hive.

Who is neutral?

• In this context, it’s hard to determine a neutral party. However, one could argue that the environment itself (the ecosystem) is neutral, as it is merely the setting for this interaction.

What relationship is this? This relationship is a form of mutualism (for the honey guide birds and badgers) but can also be characterized as commensalism for the honey guide birds benefiting from the badgers' actions. It can be also seen as a type of exploitation for the bees, resulting in a parasitic-like relationship in the broader ecological context. Overall, the honey guide birds and badgers engage in a cooperative relationship where both parties derive benefits, but this comes at the expense of the bees.