Photographer Tony Austin, from Canada, accidentally caught the odd crow behavior known as “anting.” Nevertheless, when his photos went viral, he realized it.
The crow in the popular video is sitting on gravel, and a lot of ants have taken over its body.
This habit was first noted in turkeys in the 1830s.
Tony was attacked by a swarm of crows that day while he was at Victoria’s Swan Lake Nature Reserve.
It looked like one bird was taking a dust bath. However, there was something peculiar about her behavior; she acted a little irrational and bowed her wings.
The crow leaped into the air and then landed back on the dirt path. I found his behavior to be peculiar. The photographer remarks, “I thought maybe he was in trouble, but after a minute or two, all the crows flew and landed in some trees. None of them seemed bothered.”
Austin crouched down to take a few close-ups. Upon arriving home, he clicked on the picture to enlarge it on the monitor and noticed that ants were crawling on the crow.
Furthermore, he didn’t realize how much he had actually taken until he uploaded images to Facebook. In fact, scientists found that this phenomenon—called “anting”—is exceedingly rare and perplexing.
The first records of this behavior in turkeys date back to the mid-1800s.
Since then, experts have been unable to determine the exact cause of the birds’ behavior.
According to the National Australian Federation, there is a widely held misconception that birds use ants to soothe sore skin when they are heavily feather-shedding.
An alternative theory states that ants help control parasites that live in bird feathers.
Emeritus professor of animal biology at McGill University David Bird argues that, in the interim, insects may be used as food. However, scientists haven’t yet reached any definite conclusions.
However, Austin was pleasantly surprised by the films’ box office performance.
“Taking images has always been my passion, and I have done it for my entire life. Being able to educate so many people about this little-known and even less-understood practice is fantastic. He went on, “I also want to thank this crow and his pals from the bottom of my heart for giving me an experience I will never forget.
