Discovered butterflies drink bird tears

A butterfly in Madagascar island poked a hook-shaped hose into the eyes of sleeping birds to suck tears. This is the first time scientists have seen butterflies use bird tears as food.

Close-up of butterflies drinking bird tears

Roland Hilgartner at the Primate Research Center in Göttingen (Germany) and Mamisolo Raoilison Hilgartner at Antananarivo University in Madagascar witnessed this unique scene in Kirindy's forest on the island.

Scientists know that butterflies drink bird tears that live in many places in Africa, Asia and South America , but they mostly drink tears of large animals like deer, antelopes or crocodiles - species rarely repel them. But there are no big animals on Madagascar, apart from some mammals like lemurs and mongoose. These animals often use claws to scare off butterflies. Birds are also difficult to access, as they often fly away when butterflies approach.

A butterfly gently brought the hose into the eye of the bird sleeping in the tree.(Photo: Newscientist)

But birds don't fly away when they're sleeping. The two scientists saw a few butterflies perched on the necks of the magpie and Newtonia . They poke the tip of the tap underneath the bird's eyelid and drink it. It was in the middle of the rainy season, so scientists thought that butterflies needed salt, because the land on Madagascar was low in sodium.

But the bird has two eyelids and of course both are closed. So, instead of owning a soft hose like butterflies in tears elsewhere, the Madagascan butterflies have a hook shaped hook with many prongs on their heads. "It looks like a harpoon that prehistoric people use to hunt," Roland said.

Thanks to the prongs, the butterfly's hook-shaped hose can go deep under the bird's eyelids without disturbing them. The two scientists do not yet know which species of insects belong to the species and whether they release an analgesic to calm the pain caused by the prongs on their taps. Many previous studies have shown that the male butterfly's main food is the tears of other animals. Mamisolo and Roland will also find out if the butterflies they see are all male butterflies .

Butterflies in Madagascar possess a hook-shaped hose with many prongs at the head.(Photo: Newscientist)

A close-up of butterflies drinks large animals' tears in some parts of the world

Close-up of bees and butterflies drinking crocodile tears - (Photo: Newscientist)

The butterfly is drunk drinking crocodile tears - (Photo: news.sciencemag.org)

The phenomenon of butterflies around drinking turtle tears - (Photo: Daily Mail)