Claire Spottiswoode
Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation Biology, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Principal Research Associate & Hans Gadow Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
Show me the honey: interspecies communication between humans and wild birds in Africa
Mutualism and reciprocal signalling between human honey-hunters and greater honeyguide birds to access the content of wild bees’ nests.
Claire is an evolutionary biologist and passionate naturalist with a particular interest in the ecology, evolution and conservation of species interactions. She runs two long-term field projects on African birds: on the mutually beneficial interactions between honeyguides and human honey-hunters with whom they cooperate to gain access to bees’ nests (see AfricanHoneyguides.com), and on coevolution between brood-parasitic birds and the hosts that they exploit to raise their young (see AfricanCuckoos.com). Both projects involve close cooperation with rural communities, and rely on their local field knowledge and skill.
In Mozambique’s Niassa Special Reserve, Claire and her team collaborate with the honey-hunting community of Mbamba Village, supported by the Niassa Carnivore Project and funded by a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council.
