Brown bears usually scratch their backs on timber, abandoning chemical alerts to different bears. Now, it appears the act additionally helps shield them from ticks
Life
27 January 2023
An anti-tick scratch? Carpathian Brown Bear Project
Bears that rear as much as scratch their backs towards a tree trunk smear themselves with pungent resin, presumably holding bloodsucking parasites at bay.
Brown bears (Ursus arctos) repeatedly scrape their necks, chests and backs towards timber. The behaviour is usually considered chemical communication with different bears, by means of the animals depositing their very own odours or selecting up a coating of fragrant resin. Bears can even gravitate in the direction of smellier choices for tree-rubbing, resembling creosote-treated energy poles.
But since many odoriferous plant oils and different substances have anti-fungal …
Source: www.newscientist.com