Why crocodiles cry - scientists explain Bashny.Net

A curious discovery was made by a zoologist, accidentally saw fluttering around the crocodile's head the butterfly. It turns out that insects benefit from crocodile tears.

People have long noticed that crocodiles are known for their bloodlust, often "cry". The expression "crocodile tears" is used to describe the behavior of a hypocritical person who pretends to be concerned about a situation where blame can be himself. But as it turned out, the crocodile tears it is only the features of the excretory system, which also can benefit other animals.





Director of the biological station "La Selva" in Costa Rica, ecologist Carlos de La Rosa accompanied the students during a tour of the Puerto Viejo river and accidentally drew attention to the fluttering around the spectacled Caiman bright butterfly-nymph and the bee. The insects did not leave the Cayman in a quarter of an hour, and all the other parts of the head reptiles they preferred the eyes. The scientist thought about the reasons of such strange behavior. When he returned, he began to look for the description of similar cases. In the Internet I found a lot of photo and video materials, where bees and butterflies hovered around the crocodiles and turtles. Was described the case when the bee saw the "turtle tears" on the banks of the river Yasuni in Ecuador, and in the "Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society" was even a case of sacrifiee (the so-called drink of the lacrimal fluid) in Thailand, when the bee saw the human tears.

According to Carlos de La Rosa, the crocodile tears are for insects valuable source of mineral salts, a kind of "energy drink". The fact that the excretory system of crocodiles and turtles is arranged in such a way that the lacrimal glands provide the excretion of excess salts. Dissolved mineral salts are over-represented in sea water, but away from the ocean, the animals may experience lack of them and therefore look for custom ways to make up for the missing micronutrients. His theory Carlos de La Rosa outlined in the journal "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment". How about the features of the excretory system of reptiles learned insects is unknown, but one way or another in the cycle of mineral salts in the nature of a new round.





This is not the first "accidental" discovery in the practice of Carlos de La Rosa. So, one day he discovered a new species of dragonfly, drawing attention to the fact that the insect is on the uncharacteristic plant of the bromeliad family. It was previously known only one species of dragonflies living in bromeliads, and due to the observation of the scientist there are two. You just need to keep your eyes open and be curious enough to search and find the reason for the strange things that occur on the way, says de La Rosa.

It remains to find out why the crocodiles don't mind this consumerist attitude on the part of insects, and to determine the chemical composition of crocodile tears in order to understand what exactly attract reptiles insects.

Source: nkj.ru