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HandWiki. Anting (Bird Activity). Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/30259 (accessed on 25 September 2026).
HandWiki. Anting (Bird Activity). Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/30259. Accessed September 25, 2026.
HandWiki. "Anting (Bird Activity)" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/30259 (accessed September 25, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, October 20). Anting (Bird Activity). In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/30259
HandWiki. "Anting (Bird Activity)." Encyclopedia. Web. 20 October, 2022.
Anting (Bird Activity)
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The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Biology:Anting_(bird_activity)

Anting is a maintenance behaviour during which birds rub insects, usually ants, on their feathers and skin. The bird may pick up the insects in its bill and rub them on the body (active anting), or the bird may lie in an area of high density of the insects and perform dust bathing-like movements (passive anting). The insects secrete liquids containing chemicals such as formic acid, which can act as an insecticide, miticide, fungicide, or bactericide. Alternatively, anting could make the insects edible by removing the distasteful acid, or, possibly supplement the bird's own preen oil. Instead of ants, birds can also use millipedes. More than 200 species of bird are known to ant. A possibly related behaviour, self-anointing, is seen in many mammals.

self-anointing millipedes insecticide

References

  1. Morozov, N.S (July 31, 2014). "Why do birds practice anting?". Uspekhi Sovremennoi Biologii 135: 97–112. 
  2. Ali, Salim (1936). "Do birds employ ants to rid themselves of ectoparasites?". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 38 (3): 628–631. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47602998. 
  3. Revis, Hannah (October 1, 2004). "Bactericidal and Fungicidal Activity of Ant Chemicals on Feather Parasites: An Evaluation of Anting Behavior as a Method of Self-Medication in Songbirds". The Auk 121 (4): 1262–1268. doi:10.1093/auk/121.4.1262.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fauk%2F121.4.1262
  4. Potter, Eloise (October 1970). "Anting in Wild Birds, Its Frequency and Probable Purpose". The Auk 87 (4): 692–713. doi:10.2307/4083703.  https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F4083703
  5. Judson, Olivia. "'anting' as food preparation: formic acid is worse on an empty stomach". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 31: 437–439. 
  6. Simmons, K.E.L (2009). "Anting and the problem of self-stimulation". Journal of Zoology 149 (2): 145–162. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1966.tb03890.x.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1469-7998.1966.tb03890.x
  7. Kelso, L.; Nice, Margaret M. (1963). "A Russian contribution to anting and feather mites". The Wilson Bulletin 75 (1): 23–26. http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v075n01/p0023-p0026.pdf. 
  8. Taber, Stephen Welton (1998). The World of the Harvester Ants. W.L. Moody, jr. Natural History Series. 23. Texas A&M University Press. 
  9. Camacho, Carlos; Potti, Jaime (2018). "Non-foraging tool use in European Honey-buzzards: An experimental test". PLOS ONE 13 (11): e0206843. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206843. PMID 30462689. Bibcode: 2018PLoSO..1306843C.  http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=6248935
  10. Simmons, K.E.L. (1957). "A review of the anting-behaviour of passerine birds". British Birds 50 (10): 401–424. https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V50/V50_N10/V50_N10_P401_424_A060.pdf. 
  11. Goodwin, Derek (1955). "Anting". Avicultural Magazine 61: 21–25. 
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