r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/pichipichipoco • 6d ago

Crows plucking ticks off wallabies like they're fat juicy grapes off the vine Video

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u/ConversationFit9888 6d ago

Yea, but the last wallaby was worse, nasty infestation, poor thing

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u/forthedistant 6d ago

in part because they seemed so sensitive to the crow, i think. if they had more tolerance it wouldn't be nearly so bad.

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u/Correct-Professor-38 6d ago

Shit’s gotta hurt getting those things ripped off with a beak

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u/forthedistant 6d ago

and yet if i had that alternative my response would be an immediate "gore away, my crow friend."

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u/MrBootylove 6d ago

It's very possible that the wallaby isn't even aware of the ticks and just thinks this crow is fucking with him.

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u/Jazzlike-Chair-3702 6d ago

No that last one looked leperous from the damage the ticks had done. I KNOW that hurt

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u/MrBootylove 6d ago

Probably, but that doesn't mean the wallaby is aware of why it hurts or that the crow is removing the thing causing the pain he's in.

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u/forthedistant 6d ago

tragically the crow's smart little birdbrain is much more capable to make the connection than the wallaby.

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u/IAmStuka 5d ago

If the Wallaby thought the crowd were just fucking with them there would likely be either aggression or avoidance.

You don't give them enough credit. On some level they understand what's happening, but it's clearly painful so it's not a surprise to see them flinching.

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u/_mersault 6d ago

The crows still probably don’t realize that this is a mutually beneficial situation

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u/forthedistant 6d ago

the crow realizes it's free real estate and they keep coming back to be buffet, so they're aware they've scored a good deal, at least.

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u/Petrichordates 6d ago

Nah they know.

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u/dunderdrew2 6d ago

Crows are freakishly smart, i think they know exactly whats goin on

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u/jld2k6 Interested 6d ago

My dog whose had a collective tens of thousands of years with humans before her time won't even trust me to fuck with her nails when she splits them lol, I'm also amazed they're putting up with it

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u/RockstarAgent 6d ago edited 6d ago

These are the types of interactions where I ask myself about the concept of language and communication that can exist within a species but not outside of it. So we humans can learn other languages but can the crowd learn to speak wallaby? Do all species of creatures have language? Can roaches “talk” or do many creatures just have their own way of communicating but they’re not exactly having discussions. Supposedly bees have to do some kind of weird thing to tell others where food is at instead of just having others follow them - but us having languages - is it a big brain opposable thumbs thing or pattern recognition? Then again we have also strived to communicate with creatures and have succeeded with a few.

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u/HowTheyGetcha Interested 6d ago edited 6d ago

Body language is a major means of communication. Especially via the face and eyes. Many species have facial recognition -- and not just mammals but fish and reptiles and some smart intervebrates (edit: most mammals, and not all fish and reptiles) -- and they use this faculty to communicate within their species.

You can use body language to communicate between species. If a black bear gets too curious about you and you follow conventional wisdom to make yourself appear intimidating, you are communicating with the bear. Interesting enough, you are in fact lying to another species.

Here's an informative article that helped me write this comment: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/09/20/how-do-animals-perceive-eye-contact-from-other-species/

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u/seek-confidence 6d ago

You should read the Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time

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u/Slanting926 5d ago

Most insects communicate through pheremones, like special scents that signal for certain things, but they don't really "think" they're not even aware that they're alive, they don't have the consciousness to be aware of concepts like life or death, they just operate on base instinct and chemical levers.

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u/trafficnab 6d ago

The simple answer is that Wallabies that don't let crows pick ticks off of them probably die at a faster rate than the ones who do, and natural selection has just slowly evolved them to tolerate it as a species, there doesn't really need to be any communication or understanding involved

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u/MostlyShitposts 6d ago

Mine lays down in my lap on his own and lets me groom him, he also comes to me when he smells a tick in his fur.

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u/modsnadmindumlol 6d ago

My dog whose had a collective tens of thousands of years with humans before her time

You are a fucking donut if you actually think any part of this, and you don't know how biology works. Everyone who reads a thread where you contribute instantly becomes more stupid. You are a detriment to society and science as a whole.

Also, *who's

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u/Shuber-Fuber 6d ago

Even if they instinctually know, having something sharp near your face moving that quickly is going to trigger some reflexes.

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u/Inside_Ad_357 6d ago

It would most likely either run away or attack the Crow if it didn’t understand, animals are usually pretty good at realizing when something like this, while hurts, is ultimately a good thing for them.

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u/MrBootylove 6d ago

I mean, did you not see the wallaby becoming increasingly wary of the crow? It clearly had enough of the crow despite still being covered in ticks.

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u/pwrsrc 6d ago

Everyone has their limits!

Your description seems plausible to me. It knows it's not harming it and there's a benefit but it fucking hurts so it reaches its limit.

Not saying it's reality though. I could see it.

My dog tolerates ear hair plucking (poodle) to a point and then gets snippy. He never attacks. Just growls, yips or flinches as you have to grab a bit of ear hair and pluck hard and fast. It removes ear wax, allows airflow, and just unblocks their ear canals. Plucking their ear hair/grooming in general is pretty therapeutic to poodles but they get impatient sometimes for understandable reasons.

It usually starts with a dirty look of betrayal then escalates. It's kind of funny but you feel bad for hurting them as well.

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u/RectalSpawn 6d ago

It was interesting to watch.

The crow seemed like it could tell when to stop.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

Wallaby looked heller ticked off

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u/Petrichordates 6d ago

That's why it's full of ticks.

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u/Inside_Ad_357 6d ago edited 6d ago

It would have either left or attacked the crow. Neither of them swat at it or make any attempt to drive it away. The wallaby was stressed and in pain due to the infestation of the ticks, and them being ripped off, but it still stayed and allowed the crow to continue. Given that I would say it’s far more likely that it understood enough to know ultimately it’s a good thing.

It could also just be instinctual, like how alligators(or crocs, can’t remember) let certain types of bird pick the remnants of meat off of its teeth. I think Hippos do the same thing as well.

Edit: Upon watching the video again, I do see what you mean by how the Wallaby was recoiling quite severely. But thats more than likely because the ears are very sensitive, and a massive chunk of the ear was ripped out with the first tick. So it probably hurt a lot and thats all the wallaby focused on at the moment.

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u/Having-a-Fire___Sale 5d ago

You just get used to it

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u/_mersault 6d ago

They most likely don’t understand the ticks at all, and this bird keeps picking at their ouchies

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u/lousy-site-3456 6d ago

Our dog still doesn't understand what ticks are and that we remove something that's not her but another animal.

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u/SeaIslandFarmersMkt 6d ago

We always let ours smell the tick so he can see it is another critter and we are not just picking bits of him off for fun.

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u/crespoh69 6d ago

But it tastes like him!

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u/urban_dixonary 6d ago

I'd personally disagree. Animals can tell when there is something latched on to their bodies, they are aware when their skin/fur is in optimal condition versus when it is not. In fact, I think the wallabies are completely aware of this tick removal process, as they even see the crow munching on their prize immediately after the pecks. ETA: not to mention there is no aggression at all towards the crows in close proximity.

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u/MrBootylove 6d ago

Animals can tell when there is something latched on to their bodies, they are aware when their skin/fur is in optimal condition versus when it is not.

Have you ever had a tick bite and latch onto you? Because I have, and it's very easy to not notice.

In fact, I think the wallabies are completely aware of this tick removal process, as they even see the crow munching on their prize immediately after the pecks. ETA: not to mention there is no aggression at all towards the crows in close proximity.

Given that the wallaby becomes noticeably more wary of the crow and clearly had enough of the crow despite still being covered in ticks I don't think the wallaby is really aware of what the crow is doing. It's possible the wallaby was aware that the crow was picking something off of his body, but I don't think the wallaby is fully aware of the ticks on his ears given that he is literally recoiling from the crow when it tries to get the ticks off of them.

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u/forthedistant 6d ago

i think by the time it gets to the size of a liquid-filled grape you notice, though. even if your sad tiny little wallaby arms can't reach.

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u/MrBootylove 5d ago

I don't know, I had one latched onto me that got to about the size of a marble before I noticed it, and I only noticed it because my hand happened to glide over what felt like a giant mole, not because of any pain or discomfort from the tick.

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u/SirStrontium 6d ago

I think the wallaby would be cool with it if the crow was more gentle. He's getting annoyed because the crow is stabbing at him with his beak and likely pinching his skin.

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u/urban_dixonary 5d ago

I tried. This guy is high on a hill of 800+ up votes. He's probably willing to die on it 🤷‍♀️

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u/MrBootylove 5d ago edited 5d ago

Imagine getting salty over upvotes, my god.

Edit: LOL this fucking guy writes an essay explaining how he's "not mad" at me getting upvoted (despite bitching about me getting upvoted multiple times) followed by him blocking me before I can ever respond to his essay. Sure, buddy. You're not mad at all.

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u/urban_dixonary 5d ago

Yes. The entire world and all its truth exists both within the scope of your own experience, and your own interpretation of the wallabies' living moments 👍up voted by over 800 dummies lmao 🤦‍♀️

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u/MrBootylove 5d ago

...What? Are you mad that I'm getting upvoted??? It's not that serious, brother.

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u/kickit256 3d ago

There becomes a point where you've had enough. Ever have you spouse want to pick your zits or whatever? The first few you're tolerant of, but at some point you're gonna go "That's enough!"

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u/Laogama 6d ago

From experience with (small) ticks, you do become aware of them. However, killing and removing the ticks does not immediately make you feel any different. So I reckon the wallaby is aware of the ticks, but doesn't understand that what the crow is doing will make it feel better in a few days time.

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u/acrankychef 5d ago

It is in a lot of pain and is sensitive to any stimulus

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u/SenorSolAdmirador 5d ago

It sure seems rather ambivalent about the situation. Real "I'm here to drink water - eat the ticks or don't, IDGAF" vibes.

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u/literal_garbage_man 6d ago

"If I was a wallaby I would simply cooperate with the crow"

save that level of insight for your reincarnation, chief

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u/forthedistant 5d ago

where in there did i say i'd be a wallaby, chief?

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u/RosemaryCroissant 5d ago

Where did I say I’d be a chief, wallaby?

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u/forthedistant 5d ago edited 5d ago

*busted now, i hurriedly hop off*

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u/EarthenEyes 6d ago

Doesn't ripping them off leave the head of a tick in the skin?

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u/tapefactoryslave 6d ago

At this point, they’ve had plenty of time to recirculate their nastiness. The head being left in is a minor inconvenience after it’s been on for days already.

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u/Dots_n_funk 6d ago

It’s this. It could potentially cause a secondary infection in the skin, but by this point any communicable diseases have been passed along.

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u/Altruistic_Cost_91 6d ago

No, that’s a myth. But it can leave the feeding tube / needle thing. Source: I listened to a podcast about ticks and lymes disease 🦠

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u/HamunaHamunaHamuna 6d ago

What is the myth? When removing a tick, it can absolutely get ripped in two pieces, leaving the head part stuck to the skin, which prevents healing and keeps causing irritation. And since you've removed the biggest protruding part, removing the remnant can be a bitch, which is why you should be careful to always grip the tick as close to the skin as possible when removing it.

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u/JimmyDTheSecond 6d ago

Hey there. Sorry to be pedantic.

It's just Lyme Disease. No apostrophe + s needed!

I've had Lyme Disease a long time, and the way the disease affected me has permanently changed the way I'm able to live.

Thank you so much for educating yourself about it!

Always remember to wear thick pants and long socks if you are in an area with ticks (pretty much all of the US has ticks of different kinds, but the northeast is the worst).

Bites can't always be felt or even seen. The tick doesn't need to spend long on your body to transmit their many diseases, and Lyme disease isn't something that is regularly tested.

The symptoms can be incredibly varied, from very mild to chronic and life changing problems to possibly deadly in rare cases. We're talking about something smaller than a pimple sometimes. It's scary stuff, but there's tons you can do to prepare!

Stay safe out there!

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u/Altruistic_Cost_91 6d ago

Same - i had it diagnosed in college after camping out in the open but got pretty lucky and caught mine early. Doctors initially thought I had a case of mono but couldn’t actually pin where my symptoms were coming from. Don’t think I have any lasting effects or if I do they’re extremely minor. Sorry you’ve had a difficult time with it

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u/BlondeRedDead 6d ago

I have to look it up every time I type it out

And each time I do, i repeat in my head like 10 times it’s LYME. Singular. Not possessive. LYME!!!

And then the next time, like clockwork… shit… is it Lyme or lyme’s??

(I am typing this partly in hopes that it helps it stick once and for all goddammit!)

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u/Timeon 6d ago

Is being unable to spell it one of the symptoms mayhaps?

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u/JimmyDTheSecond 6d ago

Funnily enough, Brain Fog can mess with most things in your brain regarding like, active thinking, including spelling and language. It sucks. One problem I have is that I could be looking at a refrigerator, know what it is obviously, but I have to point and be like, "can you get me a drink from....uh....dammit...uh...that?points" My family and friends don't mind and are very understanding.

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u/Timeon 6d ago

That sounds quite severe but also great you've adapted and have the support you need. Hugs.

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u/Eggplantwater 6d ago

Shout out to anyone from East LYME or Old LYME Connecticut

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u/Fragrant-Airport1309 6d ago

Is that bad

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u/Altruistic_Cost_91 6d ago

I’m probably paraphrasing this badly but here goes.

The lady that was brought in as the expert for the podcast has a PhD studying ticks. She said it’s not bad. What is bad is leaving ticks on for a long time. The longer they’re on the more likely they are to release saliva and fluids in your body as they feed which can expose us to diseases. Wild animals are often more resistant to tick borne illness than people. It’s good to pinch near your skin and pull directly away quickly so they don’t regurgitate blood and fluids into your body.

Sorry - it’s gross as hell to think about

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u/trilll 6d ago

I’m also wondering this. I assume it must. Which is bad right?

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u/inactiveuser247 6d ago

Leaving the whole tick in there isn’t great either.

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u/The_Original_Gronkie 6d ago

I've always pulled them straight out with tweezers, using a slow, steady pull. I've always gotten the head, too. The crow is just yanking them off, so he might be leaving the head behind. Not ideal, but better than a live tick.

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u/Firefly_Magic 6d ago

He was so fat he could barely find his head anyway 😱

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u/crimsonryno 6d ago

It can become embedded and cause an infection. That said I used to hike with my dog and he would get ticks. They are surprisingly hard to remove, but the head always came off with the body when I removed them. I have had a few rupture though, which it pretty gross.

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u/Rex_felis 6d ago

Yeah the second wallaby's ears were so nicked up. Like a barber who keeps cutting you. Shits rough 

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u/_mersault 6d ago

Yeah that’s what they’re going through, like humans they recoil from the pain that will help them

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u/vroomfundel2 6d ago

Yeah I also don't like it when the dermatologist scrapes things on my skin that shouldn't be there.

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u/graphicsRat 6d ago

Nature's tweezers.

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u/floatingsaltmine 6d ago

It does hurt but not that much. It's more about wallabies not really understanding that it benefits off the crow's work. Crows (corvids in general) are way smarter than wallabies. The wallaby will almost certainly not consciously make the connection between tick removal and health benefits.

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u/cefriano 5d ago

Yeah, good chance a lot of them get infections afterwards too since you're not supposed to rip ticks off as they can leave their mouthparts embedded in the skin.

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u/Refflet 6d ago

That last one had a bloody ear from the crow ripping a tick off, and most of them have chunks missing from their ears. Then, the camera at the end has blood on the lens.

I'm sure it's generally better for the wallabies but tick removal in this way isn't exactly ideal.

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u/forthedistant 6d ago

i assumed most of the blood was much more from bursting the "grape", as it were. from my own experience with mosquitos and to a lesser extent ticks, when they're full and they burst it can be quite dramatic.

so blood is being spilled, but from the general chillness of animals that would be under attack, it's secondary blood that's been removed from them already.

that secondary blood probably makes them more tasty and nutritious to the crows, actually. ticks doing the dirty work.

edit: also, the chunks in their ears seem to be a bit of a horrendous optical illusion-- the line of the ears are intact, but the ticks are sticking out so much to look like it's frayed.

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u/d0g5tar 6d ago

I pulled a huge tick off of my dog once and it fell on the floor. I was kind of panicking so I stepped on it, and it popped like a blueberry. I think your idea about how the blood gets on the camera is probablu right.

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u/Refflet 6d ago edited 6d ago

That's probably a good explanation for the blood on the lens.

However ticks are notoriously tricky to remove properly. A common old wive's tail was to heat them up, but this had to be somewhat gently to get them to release their teeth - if you don't then either you'll rip the teeth out or rip the tick apart, leaving the teeth behind (which can cause an infection). If it's the former then the animal would be in pain, which seems to be the case with that last one.

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u/BaronVonHoopleDoople 6d ago

Please do not use heat to remove ticks, it is counter-productive to avoiding infection. Per the CDC:

Avoid folklore such as "painting" the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat to make the tick detach from the skin. Your goal is to remove the tick as quickly as possible–not waiting for it to detach.

The correct way to remove a tick is:

  1. Use clean, fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible.

  2. Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you cannot remove the mouth easily with tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.

  3. After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.

  4. Never crush a tick with your fingers. Dispose of a live tick by putting it in alcohol, placing it in a sealed bag/container, wrapping it tightly in tape, or flushing it down the toilet.

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u/Refflet 6d ago

Thanks for the correction.

Like I say, it's easy to get it wrong with heat and burn the tick to death, then it can either spit something back inside you causing an infection or it might more easily break apart when you try to force its removal.

This website has a few more suggestions, in particular it says you shouldn't use eyebrow tweezers. It recommends a proprietary tick removal tool, but in a pinch you can also use fine thread or dental floss to hook the tick from underneath. The main thing is that you don't want to grab the body, as squeezing the tick can cause it to spit back into you or break off the body leaving the head behind. The CDC diagram seems to agree with this, the tweezers have a long pointy tip and the tick is grabbed by the head only, not the body.

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u/RepulsiveCelery4013 6d ago

Done that on myself for 20 years. Have like at least 5 ticks per year(depending on how much I go to nature). Never had a problem with this simple tweezers method.

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u/Dirmb 6d ago

When I've picked ticks off dogs before and they burst it was a dark almost purple color, like dried blood, not bright red like fresh oxygenated blood.

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u/Previous_Tax_2272 6d ago

Their ears aren't missing chunks, ticks don't latch on with nearly that much gumption. The rough edges are literally ticks themselves.

Don't get me wrong, this hurts, but it's not going to be too harmful for the babes.

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u/Slap_My_Lasagna 6d ago

Nothing in nature is ever ideal compared to the pampered standards humans live by.

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u/literal_garbage_man 6d ago

why is it better for the wallabies? the ticks have probably numbed up the area real good

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u/ol-gormsby 6d ago

Well, you can't just wrestle the wallaby to the ground and use an ether or butane spray to kill the tick first.

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u/maru_k 6d ago

Look at this one .. the crow actually rips off some tiny parts of the ear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3GBHwVEfNA

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u/44Ridley 5d ago

Chunks of fur could be missing for many other reasons it's hard to tell. Fighting, general wear and tear, disease, ravenous crows, multiplying ticks etc.

I'd wager it's mainly the ticks. After they let go, there's gonna be bald spots.

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u/St_Kevin_ 6d ago

Let’s be honest, the crow could be a little more gentle.

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u/thechickenchasers 6d ago

No, it probably could not. It's a crow.

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u/WakaWaka_ 6d ago

Need a few more crows to give him the full service, get all the ticks at once

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u/Previous_Tax_2272 6d ago

Behavioral evolution in progress, as sad as it is for that one wallaby.

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u/Disabled_Robot 6d ago

After a while they must also recognize it's a symbiotic relationship

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u/CatsBeerCoffeeGarden 5d ago

Which has a potential to be an evolutionary force!

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u/Longjumping_Kale3013 6d ago

This is probably early on in a symbiotic relationship. In 1 million years grows will just ride around in their pouches eating ticks

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u/veal_cutlet86 5d ago

Id be pretty sensitive there with that many ticks. You can notice the blood sprayed on the camera from his ear - its really bleeding by the time the crow gets a few off. Seem superficial - but that would sting for sure.

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u/forthedistant 5d ago

i assumed the blood got that far because ticks that fat can burst. still sucks.

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u/veal_cutlet86 5d ago

I rewatched and its probs a bit of both - hard to tell honestly. Your guess is certainly as good as mine on this one - the blood shows up with the wallaby shakes its head. I shouldnt have been so confident with the statement above; I just didnt put enough thought into it.

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u/paulinaiml 6d ago

The crow looked at it like if they just put fresh food from the kitchen in the buffet tray

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u/siridial911 6d ago

God, the ears…

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u/Teknekratos 6d ago edited 6d ago

I always wonder if it hurts and how much. I mean, the whole schtick with ticks is you don't notice the initial bite. But like at that point your tissue must start dying. I bet it at least itches a lot...

I'm lucky there aren't many ticks yet in my northernly part of Canada so even though I keep an eye out on me & my pets and procured a tick fork, I haven't seen one yet with my own eyes

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u/Kmattmebro 6d ago

I think they catch on pretty quick that there's this itchy/sore lump they can't scratch off. If they really thought the crow was attacking them they wouldn't be so calm about it. The fact that they flinch in pain as the bug is torn out but then let the bird back for another helping shows that they might have some awareness.

Anecdotally, I pried a massive tick out from behind a barn cat's ear once. Once I started fingering around it she sat still to let me do my job and let out a startled/pained meow when it finally came loose. But at no point did she treat me as a threat or try to scratch/bite me despite the fact that I was hurting her in the moment.

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u/Humble_Restaurant_34 6d ago

My dog must understand to some extent that I'm helping relieve the itchy and hurt part. I assume it hurts just based on the wound, which always looks sore even after removing it carefully with a tick key. She is way more patient through the whole process and will stay quite still if I'm "looking for / getting the bad guys", compared to say, trying to clip her nails or god forbid bathe her.

(I'm not sure why I decided calling ticks "bad guys", but that's what she now knows them as!)

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u/an_actual_lawyer 5d ago

A good mouser is usually also a really smart cat.

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u/ol-gormsby 6d ago

Wallabies are tick factories. These are paralysis ticks, they'll kill a cat within 48 hours, and a dog about the same or a bit longer. Treatment is available, but pricey.

Paralysis ticks torment cattle, and there's rules about treatment and transport. Can't take cattle from one region to another without treatment, etc.

No such issue with wallabies. They're not as sensitive to the tick venom, so they don't die when infested, they just supply a lovely environment for the ticks, and being protected, they're not subject to rules about cattle, they can wander wherever they like.

I've got wallabies wandering through my place from time to time, and they're lovely, but I always stay alert for ticks while they're here.

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u/Andokai_Vandarin667 6d ago

So when are humans going to put their shitiness to a good use and make ticks extinct?

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u/Cautious-Ring7063 6d ago

considering that ripping ticks off like that probably leaves the head buried in the skin, which then CAUSES infections, you can perhaps see the pattern.

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u/eee170 6d ago

The R O T

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u/ImpossibleChicken507 5d ago

Man i had a dog get lost in the woods for a month after Hurricane Katrina and came back COVERED in ticks. She was so sensitive I couldn’t pull them off. My dad made me bathe her in dish soap with acetone until the ticks fell off.

It took a while and she bit me so many tomes