Who ever thought a dirt bath would provide insecticide properties? [View all]

Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting

Photographer Tony Austin recently captured a peculiar image of a crow with its wings covered in dozens of tiny black ants in the throes of what appeared to be a behaviour he described as a "very odd and violent dirt bath."

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It wasn't until Austin got home and enlarged the images on a monitor that he noticed the crow had ants crawling all over its body. He posted the image to the Facebook group and asked people to weigh in on what they thought it might be.

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Some birds will sit still on an anthill and patiently allow the creatures to crawl freely through their feathers. At other times, they have been seen to pick the ants up with their beaks and rub themselves with the tiny insects.

Sensing a threat, the ants shoot a spray of formic acid from their abdomens or anal glands, which is absorbed into the bird's body and acts as a natural insecticide.




https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/curious-crow-behavior-known-as-anting-looks-like-violent-dirt-bath-1.6053823