Turtle tears
Two Julia Butterflies (Dryas iulia) drinking the tears of turtles in Ecuador. Turtles bask on a log as the butterflies sip from their eyes. This “tear-feeding” is a phenomenon known as lachryphagy.
Source: Wikimedia Commons Attribution: amalavida.tv
Once upon a time, in the Amazon rainforest, a butterfly landed on a turtles face....
No this isn’t a once upon a time fairy tale….this is real!
The photo above is two Julia Butterflies (Dryas iulia) drinking the tears of Arrau turtles in Ecuador. Turtles bask on a log as the butterflies sip from their eyes. This “tear-feeding” is a phenomenon known as lachryphagy.
Imagine the scene: A Julia Butterfly and an Arrau turtle. They are beside a river bank in Ecuador.
The butterfly is delicate, graceful and quick. The turtle is patient, resilient and slow. But despite their many differences, they have a unique bond.
In a rare and beautiful moment, these creatures come together in a special ritual initiated by a butterfly.
The butterfly gently drinks the turtle’s tears. There is a name for this unusual tear-drinking behaviour — lachryphagy, meaning “to feed on tears”.
But this isn’t just a story from a fairy tale; it’s a real life wonder from the animal world that reveals the deep interconnectedness of all things.
Butterflies have a liquid diet and use their long, straw-like tongue called a proboscis, which they can curl and uncurl, to sip sweet nectar from flowers and liquids from fruit. But a butterfly also needs sodium for its metabolism and egg production.
The butterflies need the precious salts found in the turtle’s tears, so they land softly on the turtle’s face to drink its tears. It’s mostly the male butterflies that do this, as the sodium makes them fitter, allowing them to be more active for courtship displays and to increase their reproductive fitness.
Bees do it too, but the turtles tend to get a bit more cranky with the bees for some reason and shake their heads to get them off.
Are The Turtles Crying?
We don’t really know, but we don’t think so. Turtles produce tears in order to remove excess sodium from their bodies.
It’s not clear if the turtles benefit from lachryphagy or if it bothers them. The only disadvantage we know of is when flocks of butterflies crowd their eyes, as it may interfere with their ability to see the approach of large predators. It is a case of commensalism. One species benefits and the other species doesn’t really get any effects.
Butterflies Drinking Perspiration!
I remember when I lived in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, we’d lay in the sun beside a stream in the rainforest. It was never long before butterflies would land on our skin to sip our salty perspiration. It tickled!
