Dr Jessica van der Wal

PhD (St Andrews)

Jessica studies the human cultural diversity that sustains human-honeyguide cooperation. She takes a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, integrating behavioural ecology and anthropology to document and understand honey-hunting cultures across Africa. She is the founder and coordinator of the Honey-hunting Research Network, a collective of early-career researchers dedicated to documenting Africa’s remaining honey-hunting traditions. This network was largely made possible by funding from the Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund (2023–2024). Jessica also manages Honeyguiding.me, a citizen science initiative engaging the public in honeyguide research.

Formerly a postdoctoral research fellow at the FitzPatrick Institute (2019-2024), Jessica’s ongoing work with the Honeyguide Research project is supported by the Max Planck – University of Cape Town Centre for Behaviour and Coevolution.

Student supervision

Current:

PhD
Eliupendo Laltaika (2022–current, UCT): Honeyguide-human cooperation across human cultural landscapes in Tanzania. (Co-supervisor: Claire Spottiswoode)

MSc
Prudence Tegueu (2025–current, UCT): Honey-hunter-bird interactions among the Indigenous Baka People of Cameroon. (Co-supervisors: Claire Spottiswoode, Mazi Sanda)
Lailat J. Guta (2024–current, UCT): Honey-hunting and pollination ecosystem services of miombo woodlands. (Co-supervisors: Claire Spottiswoode, Colleen Seymour)

Past:

MSc
Wiro-Bless Kamboe (2023–2024, UCT): Interactions between honeyguides and people in northern Ghana. (Co-supervisors: Claire Spottiswoode; Timothy Khan Aikins)
David Garakva (2023–2024, University of Ngaoundéré in Cameroon): The current state of human-honeyguide mutualism in Adamaoua, Cameroon. (Co-supervisor: Mazi Sanda)
Amana Kilawi (2022–2023, UCT): Mutualism between honeyguides, beekeepers and honey-hunters in central Tanzania. (Co-supervisor: Claire Spottiswoode) [distinction]
George Malembo (2022–2023, Mzuzu University in Malawi): Honey-hunting with honeyguides in northern Malawi. (Co-supervisors: Lusayo Mwabumba; Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa)
Eliupendo Laltaika (2020–2021, UCT): Understanding the mutualistic interaction between greater honeyguides and four co-existing human cultures in northern Tanzania. (Co-supervisor: Claire Spottiswoode) [distinction]

Honours
Daniela Mhangwana (2023, UCT): Honeyguides and other wax eaters: who eats wax, and why? (Co-supervisors: Claire Spottiswoode and Celiwe Ngcamphalala)
Cameron Blair (2021, UCT): The ontogeny and spatial variation in the guiding call of greater honeyguides. (Co-supervisor: Claire Spottiswoode) [distinction].

Selected publications:

van der Wal, J.E.M., Dauda, C., Lloyd-Jones, D.J., Murico, H., Begg, C.M., Begg, K.S., Jorge, A.A., Spottiswoode, C.N. (2025) The economic value of human-honeyguide mutualism in Reserva Especial do Niassa, Moçambique. Ecosystem Services 72. 101696.

Cram, D.L., Lloyd-Jones, D.J., van der Wal, J.E.M., Lund, J., Buanachique, I.O., Muamedi, M., Nanguar, C.I., Ngovene, A., Raveh, S., Boner, W. and Spottiswoode, C.N. 2023. Guides and cheats: producer-scrounger dynamics in the human-honeyguide mutualism. Proceedings Royal Society B 290. 20232024.

van der Wal, J.E.M., Afan, A.I., Anyawire, M., Begg, C.M., Begg, K.S., Dabo, G.A., Gedi, I.I., Harris, J.A., Isack., H.A., Ibrahim, J.I, Jamie, G.A., Kamboe, W.-B.W., Kilawi, A.O., Kingston, A., Laltaika, EA., Lloyd-Jones, D.J., M'manga, G.M., Muhammad, N.Z., Ngcamphalala, C.A., Nhlabatsi, S.O., Oleleteyo, T.T., Sanda, M., Tsamkxao, L., Wood, B.M., Spottiswoode, C.N. and Cram., D.L., 2023 Do honey badgers and greater honeyguide birds coooperate to access bee's nests? Ecological evidence and honey-hunter accounts. Journal of Zoology 321. 22-32.

Lloyd-Jones, D.J., St Clair, J.J.H., Cram, D.L., Yassene, O., van der Wal, J.E.M. and Spottiswoode, C.N. 2022. When wax wanes: competitors for beeswax stabilize rather than jeopardize the honeyguide–human mutualism. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 289: 20221443.

van der Wal, J.E.M., Spottiswoode, C.N., Uomini, N.T., Cantor, M., Daura-Jorge, F.G., Afan, A.I., Attwood, M.C., Amphaeris, J., Balasani, F., Begg, C.M., Blair, C.J., Bronstein, J.L., Buanachique, I.O., Cuthill, R.R.T., Das, J., Deb, A., Dixit, T., Dlamini, G.S., Dounias, E., Gedi, I.I., Gruber, M., Hoffman, L.S., Holzlehner, T., Isack, H.A., Laltaika, A.E., Lloyd-Jones, D.J., Lund, J., Machado, A.M.S., Mahadevan, L., Moreno, I.B., Nwaogu, C.J., Pereira, V.L., Pierotti, R., Rucunua, S.A., dos Santos, W.F., Serpa, N., Smith, B.D., Tolkova, I., Tun, T., Valle-Pereira, J.V.S., Wood, B.M., Wrangham, R.W. and Cram, D.L. 2022. Safeguarding human-wildlife cooperation. Conservation Letters, e12886

Cram, D.L., van der Wal, J.E.M., Uomini, N.T., Cantor, M., Afan, A.I., Attwood, M.C., Amphaeris, J., Balasani, F., Blair, C.J., Bronstein, J.L., Buanachique, I.O., Cuthill, R.R.T., Das, J., Daura-Jorge, F.G., Deb, A., Dixit, T., Dlamini, G.S., Dounias, E., Gedi, I.I., Gruber, M., Hoffman, L.S., Holzlehner, T., Isack, H.A., Laltaika, A.E., Lloyd-Jones, D.J., Lund, J., Machado, A.M.S., Mahadevan, L., Moreno, I.B., Nwaogu, C.J., Pereira, V.L., Pierotti, R., Rucunua, S.A., dos Santos, W.F., Serpa, N., Smith, B.D., Sridhar, H., Tolkova, I., Tun, T., Valle-Pereira, J.V.S., Wood, B.M., Wrangham, R.W. and Spottiswoode, C.N. 2022 The ecology and evolution of human-wildlife cooperation. People and Nature, 00, 1–15.

van der Wal, J.E.M., Gedi, I. and Spottiswoode, C.N. 2022 Awer honey-hunting culture with greater honeyguides in coastal Kenya. Frontiers in Conservation Science 2: 727479.

van der Wal, J.E.M., Spottiswoode, C.N. and Sugasawa, S., 2022 Correspondence: Opportunities and risks of publishing academic talks online. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01755-6

van der Wal, J.E.M., Thorogood, R. and Horrocks, N.P.C. 2021 Collaboration enhances career progression in academic science, especially for female researchers. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 288: 20210219.

Semi-popular articles:

van der Wal, J.E.M., Spottiswoode, C.N. and Cram, D.L. 2022. Why it’s crucial to preserve the ancient practice of finding wild honey with birds. The Conversation, 15 June.

van der Wal, J.E.M. 2022. How we can safeguard rare cases of cooperation between people and wild animals. Current Conservation, 26 Oct.