No, these birds have not gone crazy, in fact they may be the most sane at the moment. The explanation is simple, bustards consume toxic insects for health and to 'bind' more.
It seems somewhat incongruous, but it actually makes a lot of logic. Researchers from the CSIC have discovered this peculiar behavior that males of this species of bird have, and the results of their study have been published in the journal PLoS ONE .
According to the data collected, they deliberately ingest highly toxic insects, such as oil cans, to purge themselves and eliminate parasites and bacteria that they may have in their body thanks to cantharidin, a very harmful substance that these coleopterans contain. But their wisdom does not stop there, in addition to cleansing themselves from the inside, this "self-medication" serves to attract females. How? Because of how clean they stay.
Yes, bustards are demanding and want very clean and healthy sexual partners, and to prove it, at mating season they meticulously inspect the cloaca of the males (their copulatory organ), and the more cared for and free of dirt it is, the more females it attracts. . This self-medication behavior had not been studied as something associated with sexual selection, but the finding may have enormous significance, especially in the study of polygamous species, where the sexual competition of males is brutal because the females are the ones who decide.
