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Friendly Honey Guide Bird

I'm new to posting ideas on any sort of forum so we'll see how this goes. I love ecological documentaries and seeing interactions between animals in mutualistic relationships. In this post I'd like to bring up the honeyguide bird, which is a really fascinating creature with some cool behaviors. While it is mainly a rumor that the honeyguide lures non-human animals to sources of honey, the birds do exhibit a somewhat unpredictable mutualism with humans in the African Savanna. The little honeyguide lures a human to a bees nest by chirping and flying towards the nest site. I think this mechanic could be very similar to the already in game behavior of dolphins leading players to treasure. I think in the game, the interactions between the honeyguide and the player could look like the following examples:

Naturally, without trusting the player, the honeyguide may chirp and attempt to lead a player to a bee nest, potentially leading player through a variety of biomes, not just savanna. Player may gain the trust of the bird by collecting honey or honeycomb from the nest. Player might also be able to gain trust of the honeyguide through feeding (of honeyblock, honey bottle, honeycomb, or spider eyes, etc.)

After trust is gained, the honeyguide may lead player to ruined portals, temples, or other generated structures containing chests and valuable loot. It could add an element of interest to the rather barren savanna biome. I know the idea might not get very far, but it's fun to imagine. 

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    Registered User commented
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    I love the idea! It would be useful because I always have to spend days on expeditions looking for bee nests.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    I'd like to follow up that this would be an interesting mechanic to see on land in the form of a cute animal like the honeyguide and hint to a really cool natural phenomenon. While it doesn't need to take the form of a honeyguide, I really do love the idea of animals interacting with players or other animals for needs of their own. Animals hunting other animals already exists in Minecraft. Beneficial symbiotic relationships would be probably a lot harder to put into the game. But I think some simple, easy to visualize relationships could be really cool (in the future of Minecraft maybe? I'm not making these my suggestions, just offering examples) like monkeys bartering with players for fruit, crows flocking behind wolves in search of dropped mutton, or elusive clownfish hiding in stinging anenomes. The honeyguide, in my opinion, is a really endearing relationship that would be so fun to feature in a game like Minecraft as a mob that doesn't need to be hunted down to be useful.

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    Registered User commented
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    I love this idea! I usually spend a long time looking for a bee's nest and I eventually will give up sometimes. I think this would be an awesome addition to minecraft!