Lacrimile de croco. sunt reale

When someone feigns sadness they “cry crocodile tears,” a phrase that comes from an old myth that the animals cry while eating.

Now, a University of Florida researcher has concluded that crocodiles really do bawl while banqueting – but for physiological reasons rather than rascally reptilian remorse.

UF zoologist Kent Vliet observed and videotaped four captive caimans and three alligators, both close relatives of the crocodile, while eating on a spit of dry land at Florida’s St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.

He found that five of the seven animals teared up as they tore into their food, with some of their eyes even frothing and bubbling.

“There are a lot of references in general literature to crocodiles feeding and crying, but it’s almost entirely anecdotal,” Vliet said. “And from the biological perspective there is quite a bit of confusion on the subject in the scientific literature, so we decided to take a closer look.”

A paper about the research appears in the latest edition of the journal BioScience.

Vliet said he began the project after a call from D. Malcolm Shaner, a consultant in neurology at Kaiser Permanente, West Los Angeles, and an associate clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In the myth, crocodiles often cry while eating humans. However, deadpanned Shaner, “we were not able to feed a person to the crocodiles.”

Instead, Vliet had to settle for the dog biscuit-like alligator food that is the staple at the St. Augustine alligator farm. He decided to observe alligators and caimans, rather than crocodiles, because they are trained at the farm to feed on dry land. That’s critical to seeing the tearing because in water the animals’ eyes would be wet anyway.

The farm’s keepers don’t train the crocodiles to feed on land because they are so agile and aggressive, Vliet said. But he said he feels sure they would have the same reaction as alligators and caimans, because all are closely related crocodilians.

What causes the tears remains a bit of a mystery.

Vliet said he believes they may occur as a result of the animals hissing and huffing, a behavior that often accompanies feeding. Air forced through the sinuses may mix with tears in the crocodiles’ lacrimal, or tear, glands emptying into the eye.

But one thing is sure: faux grief is not a factor. “In my experience,” Vliet said, “when crocodiles take something into their mouth, they mean it.”

Source: University of Florida