I enjoyed watching a crow removing nasty ticks from a wallaby

That poor baby. 😟

The crow should have done that to Justin Bieber

Another one. Good job crow

Disgusting!

Nature's Dr. Pimple Popper.

Disgusting!

I still watched though.

It is disgusting But addictive indeed.

Ticks are fucking gross. What purpose do they serve?

[quote]These ravens have not been observed to remove and eat ticks in previous years - they appear to have only learned this behaviour in 2019. All of the ravens started out lunging and snatching at the ticks, with the result that they removed a beakful of fur as well as the tick - naturally the wallabies object to this! While some ravens still lunge and snatch, others appear to have developed a more precise art over these past weeks - they use more finesse, removing smaller and smaller ticks while ripping out less fur, with the result that the wallabies are more relaxed and increasingly prepared to accept their attentions, which allows the ravens to be more precise and rip out less fur... a positive feedback loop. It is uncertain where the improvement started, with the wallaby's attitude or the ravens' increased skill. The ravens at our other property 20km away still show no sign of learning the tick removing behaviour.

Fascinating.

Amazing clips 😳😳😳

More, more, I need more! This is so satisfying to watch.

The quote at R9 is very interesting, nature evolving. I do know that Crows have been found to be incredibly intelligent though.

New Caledonian crows are apparently the most intelligent of the bunch, though these Australian ravens don't seem to be far behind.

It's amazing because in some parts of Africa, certain birds and large mammals have developed an almost symbiotic relationship doing the same thing. As the mammals graze or drink, the birds will effectively clean and groom them, removing ticks and other insects. I guess the Australian birds learned they have a steady diet among the wallabies.

Disgusting 🤢

Can't open wounds like these lead to an infection?

In the novel "Raptor Red" there's a scene in which tick-riddled velociraptors seek out an area where tick-eating birds live to have their ticks and the infected surrounding tissues nipped out. They experience it as a sort of spa treatment. Now I know where this comes from.

Bump

Animals helping each other other out (because it benefits both of them). You know, some humans could learn a thing or two about this.

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OP Love the Advisory!!!

You forgot to post a helpline number for those affected by what they saw.

Too late, bitch - the preview image traumatised me already. For life!

😂 😂

Crow: Nom! These fat ticks are full of juicy wallaby blood! ::Peck::Gobble::Peck!

Opossums do the same service for deers.

Cattle Egrets here in the states have a similar relationship with cows. In their case, the cattle also grind up the land to expose bugs for the birds.

[quote]More, more, I need more! This is so satisfying to watch.

Do you enjoy botfly removal videos as well? I used to watch them at some point since it's so disgusting and satisfying at the same time.

r37 That poor squirrel. Botflies, tics, mosquitoes, parasites... the lowest of the low.

Just vomited

r27, how can these people do these things with bare hands??? That is some contagion shit ready to happen.

Trypophobiacs feast your eyes!

Bump

A crow goes to a hooman for tick removal service.

Oh god, ticks are revolting. For some reason I've been watching those crows removing ticks clips almost daily since they are so satisfying. Too bad there aren't more of them. But there are other tick removing vids, like this one were a tick is removed from a human eardrum... yikes.

I tried to get one off Tippi Hedren's head once and it turned into a whole big thing...

A little H2O2 helps.

Them tickses does gets big in Oz, don' theh, Tilda?

Sometimes it takes a professional.

Why did not my love fill my lemon grove with crows?

I was excited to locate a video about an oxpecker.

Boy, was I disappointed.

To hell with them foreign videos. Show 'em a good AMERICAN tick eatin' video.

Light a match. Blow it out. Hold hot end to tick butt. He'll let go real quick.

Enjoy my ❤️

I've never heard of a botfly before. I don't think I'd care to get any further acquainted. Thank you very much.

That poor tiny little squirrel. Completely helpless to do anything while he gets sucked dry (and not in a good way.)

It was so great to see those humans helping him out. God bless them - he must have been so grateful. One of those things was friggin' HUGE.

A NEW ONE! God ticks are revolting.

Sneeky. Tum-te-tum, sip some water, sidle closer to infested furry, look around disinterestedly, pause, then SNAP. Fat bug snatched. Crows mimicked my wee doggo’s yelps when she was accidentally locked out. These big birdies are far too smart.

I watched birds eating bugs off bison at the Bronx Zoo 25 years ago. You don’t have to go someplace exotic to see it,

My blue jays imitate all kinds of things. Sometimes they imitate hawk cries to chase other birds from the feeder. Someone’s they imitate my guinea fowl because they know I come out & scatter birdseed when I hear the guineas. It’s not easy to imitate guinea fowl because they whistle in a specific way & the jays can sound just like them.

This is a female guide fowl & my birds are male, so they don’t make the same loud calling sounds but they make the same soft whistling sound she is making in between calls

There are cattle egrets at the Bronx zoo too, eating bugs off some kind of cattle they had there.

Long ago I went through a sustained period of horrified botfly research. I read an account (thankfully no video) of a guy who got a botfly in his SCROTUM.

I once saw video of the removal of a botfly from the EYELID of a small child. The thing they pulled out was nearly fully transformed and looked ready to bust out on its own.

Stupid wallabes!

Where are these people getting these bot flies from?

Oh shit, a locust feasting on a wart. Apparently it's a thing.

R5 is exactly what I was thinking. It's like peopel addicted to watching those disgusting blackhead removal or pus videos.

people*

1. more ticks will just attach themselves at another time

2. the wallaby now has open wounds which could get infected and lead to worse problems. The smell of blood might also attract predators like wildcats or dingoes or whatever

3. ticks secrete local anesthesia to their host while they’re feeding, most animals don’t even know they’re there

4. crows are smart as fuck