Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). You’re walking in the woods in Mozambique, humming to yourself. Suddenly, a small brown bird appears. You glimpse him in the trees ahead as he calls out: chatter-chatter-chatter-chatter! Don’t be alarmed. If you can, follow that bird wherever he goes. He’s trying to get both of you a snack. Across sub-Saharan Africa, and potentially over millions of years, people and greater honeyguide birds…
