The Truth About Crocodile Tears

According to How Stuff Works, crocodiles also know how to cry like humans and many other animals, but the special thing is that they cry while eating the prey they have just killed.

Crocodiles shed tears while eating their prey. Photo: Corbis.

The biological mechanism that explains this behavior of crocodiles is still a mystery, because scientists have had many difficulties in testing it. Crocodiles become very dangerous if someone tries to get close. They are often in the water, so checking whether their eyes are wet or not is not easy.

In a 2006 study, scientists at the University of Florida and the University of California trained seven alligators to move to a dry feeding site and then filmed their reactions. The results showed that five of the seven alligators shed tears while eating.

The researchers can’t say for sure why alligators cry. But they think it may have something to do with the animals panting and hissing while they eat. This action forces air through the sinuses, stimulating the glands to produce more tears.

According to VNE