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Two House Crows Began Anting After Watching a Large-billed Crow in Coonoor

Large-billed Crow perched in Tamil Nadu, India
Research · Behaviour

A Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) was filmed actively rubbing ants through its feathers in Coonoor in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India. Three House Crows (Corvus splendens) arrived while the behaviour was taking place. One watched and fed on ants without anting, while the other two subsequently began rubbing ants through their own plumage.

The observation was made on 10 January 2026 at about 1,820 metres elevation beneath a cypress tree with a large aggregation of yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes). A 131-second section of video was analysed with an ethogram that separated the birds’ actions into categories.

Anting dominated the Large-billed Crow’s activity

Active anting — deliberately picking up ants and rubbing them on the plumage — occupied about 42–45% of the Large-billed Crow’s observed time. The bird applied ants to its tail, wings and legs. Preening accounted for about 18–20%, while ant handling, vigilance and other behaviours made up smaller shares.

The authors state that this is, to their knowledge, the first documented use of yellow crazy ants for anting. The species is widespread in tropical regions and was abundant at the observation site.

Two of three House Crows also began anting

The first House Crow spent most of its observed time pecking at ants and did not rub any through its feathers. Two later arrivals, however, each spent roughly 40–45% of their observed time actively anting after the Large-billed Crow had been performing the behaviour.

The authors interpret the sequence as heterospecific social facilitation: seeing another species perform an existing behaviour may increase the likelihood that the observer performs it too. They explicitly distinguish this from demonstrating that the House Crows learned an entirely new behaviour through imitation.

Anting is known from many bird groups but remains sparsely documented in India. The Coonoor observation therefore adds a detailed behavioural record for both crow species while showing how immediate social context may influence whether the behaviour is expressed.

Sources and image credit

  1. Moinudheen, N., Abinesh, A., Gupta, G., Rishi, K., Vignesh, E., Shahir, M., Saran, M., & Samson, A. (2026). I need some ants too: heterospecific and conspecific social facilitation of anting in congeneric crows from India. Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia – Research in Ornithology.Peer-reviewed Early Access short communication. Video from Coonoor documented active anting by a Large-billed Crow and subsequent anting by two of three observing House Crows.

Image: PJeganathan / Wikimedia Commons — Large-billed Crow in Needamangalam, Tamil Nadu, India, photographed 26 February 2012; representative study-species image · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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Behaviour

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Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos Explore species House Crow Corvus splendens Explore species

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