There are a variety of applicable ointments, salves, lotions, and powders that we use to ease or enhance parts of our bodies. It is either maintenance or a simple relief option that we resort to when the need arises. But did you know that birds (and perhaps many other animals) often resort to tactics and other forms of nature to ease, help mend, or otherwise bring a causative effect to work wonders for them? Well, yes…they do things. Things like anting.
Anting is what a bird does when it likely needs to provide its feathers and skin with an ant-secreted liquid that contains beneficial compounds. These compounds usually contain a natural chemical – formic acid – that could contribute to birds’ needs to rid parasites that form on the feathers. If left unchecked, it is known that some micro-organisms that form and stick to the birds’ feathers can, over time, destroy the feathers. Formic acid is an active compound known to prevent the growth of these microorganisms on feathers. Other thoughts on the practice are that anting can help a bird by bringing liquid to the feathers to allow for removal of old preen oils so that the practice can be continued in a useful manner.
An Ant “Spa Bath”
So, what is anting? Simply, the bird can scoop up ants in their bills/beaks and rub them over parts of the feather in a practice that is referred to as “active anting.” Another process is when the bird lies over an anthill (or quite near one) with wings spread and allows the ants to crawl over their body. The bird uses their beak to agitate the ants, causing the ants to scurry over more body area. Birds don’t allow ants on the head. When ants venture too far toward the head, the bird shakes its head vigorously to remove them. This practice is referred to as “passive anting.”
Birds can substitute a variety of other insects to perform the same desired function. Some include snails, millipedes, grasshoppers, and other useful insects that can swarm a bird’s body. Other thoughts as to why some birds do anting is that they are then able to dispel the ants’ harmful secretions so that they can be ingested without harmful side-effects. Other scientists suggest that some birds perform anting simply as a sensory effect. They suggest that the birds find the sensation of crawling ants to be pleasurable and therefore an addictive habit.
There are thought to be over 200 bird species that ant regularly. And while we’re not exactly sure why a bird performs the practice, the narrowing of probabilities seems to have the reason close by, with removal of microorganisms as the most plausible reality.
Famed ornithologist John James Audubon first recognized the intriguing anting process with turkeys that used anthills to allow ants to swarm their bodies.
Some notable bird species inclined to do “anting” include:
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crows
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babblers
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weavers
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owls
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turkeys
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waxbills
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pheasants
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blue jays
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song sparrows
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Northern cardinals
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brown thrashers
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European starlings,
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American robins
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Eastern bluebirds
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gray catbirds
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Carolina wrens
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common ravens