Butterfly and Bee Sips Tears from Caiman Eyes

[sanjay]

Ecologist Carlos de la Rosa spotted a Julia butterfly (Dryas iulia) and a solitary bee (Centris sp.) sipping tears from the eyes of spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) that was basking on the bank of Costa Rica's Puerto Viejo River. He, with his team, observed, photographed and filmed the scene for about 15 minutes. The crocodile was quiet all through.

In his feature in the May issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, the ecologist says that though this was rare to be seen, it is not an uncommon phenomenon among insects, as they indulge in lapping up tears to balance their diet by obtaining salt and proteins from concentrated sources.

Earlier, a similar incident was reported when a solitary bee (Centris sp.) was interacting with a yellow-spotted river turtle. But the scientific explanation for this phenomenon comes from Carlos.

This behaviour is not just limited to insects drinking tears of turtles and crocodiles. It was reported in 2009 about Apidae (a kind of honeybee) drinking human tears in Thailand.
Here is the video recorded by Ecologist Carlos de la Rosa and his team in December 2013:

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[peter]

Giant moth, south-east Russia:

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