BIRDS ANTING X FORMIC ACID X PARASITE ICIDE

 

What's a fact that shocked you?

Originally Answered: What was one fact that surprised you?

Have you ever seen a bird doing this??

Lying flat on the ground with wings wide open sticking to the ground.

Wow! it seems that the bird, in the above picture, the Malkoha had some good time last night and he partied really hard.

Also, Mr Brown Thrasher joined him. And he is also high now,

he.. he.

Jokes apart, why are all these birds lying flat on the ground with their wings spread?? The reason will definitely make you admire these birds and mother nature.

Well, in the above images, the birds are doing, what is called Anting.

So what does it mean?

Bird's wings have feathers and every now and then, parasites and small insects get into the feathers to suck blood and do whatever ill they can. This makes the birds uncomfortable.

But birds are smart. To get rid of these parasites and insects, birds first find an ant colony, and then they lie flat on these ants colonies.

Now, you will ask, “Are these birds on a suicide mission?” But, let me tell you, this where the bird’s beauty lies.

These cheeky birds, let the ants enter their feathers, and I hope you know what ants have…. FORMIC ACID. Yes, the ant secrete formic acid inside the feathers, and you will be amazed to know that this acid is a very good insecticide.

Thus, the birds use an ant’s weapon to get rid of their problem i.e parasites. On top of that, some very intelligent birds, perched on a branch after the anting process, eat the ants still sticking. How merciless and selfish is that??

Also, some birds later do preening, which means, they spread the formic acid throughout the wings with the help of their beaks, which looks something like this:

Ain’t that amazing???

I mean, how smart they are and when will they stop amazing us?? I think never.

These birds are genius, and I still think that they have a higher IQ than the foolish person (like me), who stalk them.