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Now let’s take birds as another example of living creatures that should be
protected against microbes. Microbes attack birds too, but birds do not
have a system in their bodies to produce protective substances as ants do.
Consequently birds have found a different but equally practical solution to
this problem. They go to and lie on an ant’s nest, and wait for the ants to
wander through their feathers. Ants that search for food stroll among the
bird’s feathers, and the substance that kills the microbes is smeared on the
bird’s feathers as they do so. Thus, the bird is purified of microbes. How do
birds know that ants produce such a substance and that this substance will
remove microbes from their bodies?
People only discovered that ants have such a pro-
tective system after much research. Many peo-
ple without expert knowledge of animals
are still not aware of it. Probably you,
too, have just learnt about it here.
Birds, however, have known this
feature of ants from the moment
they were born. Moreover, al-
though there is nobody to
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