25 interesting facts about backyard birds (I) ANTING

1. They Have a Curious Desire to Cover Themselves in Ants

While we know a lot about birds, we don’t always understand their motivations. One example: “anting,” or the practice of covering themselves in living or dead ants. Cardinals are prone to the practice, allowing ants to crawl around their bodies or stuffing ant corpses into their feathers. One theory is that the formic acid secreted by the insects helps rid birds of lice; ants may also help clean up dried oils left over from preening. If ants aren't handy, birds have also been known to use cigarette butts, beetles, and coffee.

所有跟帖： 

• For the first time I learned it. 你見過嗎？ -妖妖靈- ♀ (0 bytes) () 10/24/2022 postreply 15:09:51

• 沒見過，不整天研究，很難知道的。 -移花接木- ♂ (0 bytes) () 10/24/2022 postreply 15:20:02

• 有趣呀，我以前聽說鳥用沙土清理自己的羽毛。螞蟻也有這樣作用。 -jianchi9090- ♀ (0 bytes) () 10/24/2022 postreply 16:03:54

• It’s interesting! Thanks for sharing -甜蟲蟲- ♀ (0 bytes) () 10/25/2022 postreply 12:03:02