{"id":54281,"date":"2025-08-08T10:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/54281\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:37:11","slug":"crows-have-a-secret-you-didnt-know-for-natural-self-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/54281\/","title":{"rendered":"Crows have a secret you didn\u2019t know for natural self-healing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What if crows had uncovered a natural remedy we humans haven\u2019t mastered? This mysterious anting ritual\u2014rolling in clouds of live ants\u2014has baffled scientists for over a century.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that crows, famed for their intelligence, use the ritual to treat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/biodiversity-beware-this-common-mistake-when-facing-the-asian-hornet_18956\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">parasites<\/a>? Researchers have spotted two methods:<\/p>\n<p>Birds grab ants with their beaks and rub them directly onto their feathers.<\/p>\n<p>Birds stir up ant colonies to provoke bites, then let the insects crawl through their plumage.<\/p>\n<p>Antimicrobial properties of ants: a natural protection?<\/p>\n<p>Ants in the Formica and Myrmica genera produce formic acid and other antimicrobial compounds. Researchers believe these baths help crows shed ticks and guard against infections. Yet some suggest it\u2019s simple self-stimulation, like a human habit, with no direct biological aim. Most experts back the hygiene theory, but no explanation is final.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Birds just like this crow use ants to get rid of parasites. \ud83e\udda0 Taking a bath in ants is also called \u2018anting\u2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Censorship?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Censorship<\/a> is a parasite \ud83e\udda0 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%24CAW&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$CAW<\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FreedomOfSpeech?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#FreedomOfSpeech<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Did you know? \ud83c\udf93<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#CAW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AHuntersDream?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#AHuntersDream<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EwGAjAc1je\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/EwGAjAc1je<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FreeWilly\ud83c\udf19 (@WillyNillyRaw) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WillyNillyRaw\/status\/1781989609536119050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 21, 2024<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>A universal ritual among birds\u2026 and beyond<\/p>\n<p>Ant bathing isn\u2019t just for crows. Thrushes, blackbirds, and over 200 species worldwide practice this universal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/a-3000-year-old-fresco-resurfaces-in-peru-its-symbols-defy-any-interpretation_19190\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ritual<\/a>. Even some primates have been seen rubbing ants on their skin. This widespread behavior still puzzles researchers\u2014and future studies may finally reveal its true purpose.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A Hornbill \u201canting\u201d. They purposely sit on top of ants nest and allow ants to crawl all over them. This helps them with cleaning parasites, feather maintenance and stimulation for feather growth. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/A9shVeMxgc\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/A9shVeMxgc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Interesting As Fuck (@interesting_aIl) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/interesting_aIl\/status\/1860360677191254047?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 23, 2024<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img-00411-100x100.webp.webp\" class=\"attachment-100x100 size-100x100 wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ang\u00e8le Ingrand\" itemprop=\"image\"  \/>                <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t        Ang\u00e8le Ingrand                <\/p>\n<p>\n    Science journalist    <\/p>\n<p>Fascinated by nature and zoology since childhood, this journalist chose to share her passion through journalism after completing her biology studies. Now in her third year at the journalism school in Cannes, she works at Futura, where she is dedicated to making science accessible and raising public awareness of environmental issues.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/auteur-fs-100x100.webp.webp\" class=\"attachment-100x100 size-100x100\" alt=\"author-fs\" itemprop=\"image\"  \/>                <\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What if crows had uncovered a natural remedy we humans haven\u2019t mastered? This mysterious anting ritual\u2014rolling in clouds&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-54281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}