A stunning variety of African animals eat beeswax

Honeyguide birds lead people to bees’ nests and get beeswax as a reward, however digicam traps reveal that honey badgers, baboons and mongooses all feed on the leftovers

By Ryan Truscott

Many animals in southern Africa feed on beeswax and, by doing so, they assist keep a novel partnership between people and birds that lead honey-hunters to wild bees’ nests.

Till now, it was thought that only a few animals aside from larger honeyguides (Indicator indicator) may digest beeswax – a high-energy meals that the birds get hold of as a reward from people who break open bees’ nests.

David Lloyd-Jones on the College of Cape City, South Africa, and his colleagues needed to see if bigger animals feeding on …