When a crow feels sick… it visits an anthill.
Sounds strange? It’s actually one of nature’s most fascinating healing rituals.
When a crow senses it’s unwell, it will intentionally find an anthill, spread its wings wide, and remain completely still—waiting for the ants to crawl into its feathers.
Why?
Because ants release formic acid—a natural antiseptic that kills bacteria, fungi, and parasites hiding in the bird’s feathers.
This behavior is called “anting”, and it’s been observed not just in crows, but in many bird species.
No medicine.
No vet.
Just pure instinct and nature’s built-in pharmacy.
A brilliant reminder that the natural world is full of intelligent, self-healing systems…
We just need to stop and notice.
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By award-winning Texas author Cynthia Leal Massey.
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Formic acid is the substance that make any insect that bites you, sting. I wonder, do the ants just bite and gobble up stuff in the feathers, or do they bite the bird’s skin too, like an injection that can actually cleanse the system? I know that bee stings are used by some people who suffer from arthritis; my neighbor kept bees and did that; he said it helped a lot. If so, I salute those crows for taking their medicine unflinchingly. Amazing.
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I am learning so much about this just from the various comments from different sites on this article. Thank you.
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I tried this once when I was about 4 years old. It had the opposite effect.
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My daughter was also four years old when she tried it by sitting on a rotten log. That didn’t work well either amidst shrieks. 🙂
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Oh, yes. That is my primary memory of that event – me shrieking! My oldest sister, Susie, 14 years old at the time, rushed me into the house and got me into the bathtub, filled it with water, drowned all the ants!
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That was quick thinking by your older sister! When my daughter sat on the ant infested log, we were on a walk and quite a distance from home. Her older brothers and I swatted, brushed, and pulled off the ants. 🐜🐜🐜
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Seems like this was one of those rites of passage for so many. Ouch.
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Crows are just awesomely smart. 🙂
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Holy Crap, Jack. Ain’t no way when I feel sick, I’m lying on a fire ant bed, those little bastards will kill me within ten minutes. I have Crows that visit the bird feeder every day. Always big and pushy, but such a nice diversion. I put out a shiny quarter for them, and the next day I found a dime. What did the Crow spend the fifteen cents on?
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Ant food.
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ABBA sure knows his stuff, second to none
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I don’t think we have fire ants in New England. I wonder what the crows do here? Find yellow jackets?
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Wow!
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I just today found out we have fire ants in New England. My sister says they are in her yard; big mound, red ants. Yuck. I thought I was safe, and I’ve just volunteered to help weed her garden.
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Careful. Seen them all my life but don’t recall ever being stung.
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