A biologist found the moth resting on the neck of a black-chin antbird in Brazil and extending its long beak to suck the bird's tears. photograph by leandro moraes
The moth may be sipping tears from a bird like this black-chin antbird to get extra high levels of protein. photograph by leandro moraes
uux.cn According to National Geographic (by Sandrine Ceurstemont, ed.): A rare tear-sucking moth found in Brazil may help explain this abnormal behavior and whether it causes harm to birds.
Moths have been seen sipping tears from sleeping birds in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, the first time the country has been witnessed and the third known case worldwide.
Moths and butterflies are often seen sipping the tears of crocodiles, turtles and mammals. It is generally considered that this is a way for them to obtain salt, because this necessary nutrient is not found in the nectar and it is difficult to obtain it elsewhere.
The tears of birds may also be targeted for the same reason. However, the area that recently witnessed this case is flooded every year by a nearby river, which releases much of the salt from the soil. Now that salt is readily available, it's also the case's discoverer, Leandell Lee, who published the finding last week in the journal Ecology. Leandro Moraes was puzzled.
"The most curious thing is why moths in such an environment suck on bird tears to replenish their salt," said Moras, a biologist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, Brazil.
Rare sight
Moraes witnessed this strange behavior at night while searching for amphibians and reptiles. In the forest along the solimões river, he saw a gorgone macarea stopping at the neck of a black-chinned antbird. Even encountering a sleeping bird is unusual, he said.
"However, the biggest surprise was that when I noticed what was happening, I found that the moth had put its long beak into the bird's eyes."
The moth's beak is an elongated tubular mouthpiece that can suck up liquid like a straw. In Madagascar, moths have also been seen sucking the tears of birds, and the moths have hooks on their beaks that allow them to hook firmly when eating. However, whether the beak of this Amazon moth has hooks or not remains to be further studied. However, the moth's beak is long enough to keep the moth at a safe distance from the host's eyes so as not to wake the bird.
However, moths usually do not use their "straws" to suck things directly from animals. In this part of the rainforest where tear-drinking moths were witnessed, butterflies and moths would gather near the flooded soil and drink salty muddy water with their beaks, a behavior called mud-puddling.
However, as the flood recedes, this salty muddy water may flow elsewhere, leaving insects wondering what to do. "The fact that a particular region will have fewer resources in a particular month may explain why moths seek extra nutrients from bird tears," Moras said.
Moths may also be looking for another nutrient: protein. While they usually get this substance from plant nectar, tears— which contain albumin and globulin— are also complementary sources. Consuming more protein allows them to fly longer, and it can also make them reproduce more successfully and live longer.
"Vertebrate fluids are an alternative and important source of protein." Moraes said. Vampire moths, for example, suck the blood of animals– or humans.
Anyway didn't cause harm, simply don't bird you?
Whatever the moth gets from the tears, the effect of this act of sipping tears from the birds on the birds still needs to be answered. Moths are carried out while the birds are sleeping, and scientists believe that the birds do not care about the tears being sucked away, because they do not show signs of discomfort.
"Sleeping birds that perceive danger usually wake up quickly and fly away," Moras said.
This behavior has the potential to pose a danger to birds. It has been suspected that tear-drowsy moths may transmit eye diseases to domestic animals such as cattle and buffalo when they poke their beaks into the eyes of animals.
Moths aren't the only insects that drink tears. Michael of the University of Kansas. Michael engel, who reported last year the first case of stingless bee sipping tears in Sri Lanka, is arguing that there are more and more cases of different insects sipping tears.
However, this behavior is rarely reported in the Amazon rainforest area. The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world and home to a very diverse species of animals, including about 1,300 species of birds and an estimated 2.5 million species of insects.
A few years ago, in the Amazon region of Colombia, some kind of erebid moth was seen sucking the tears of a ringed kingfisher in its rest, and this was the first case involving birds in the region. In 2012, the solitary bees were also recorded sipping the tears of river turtles in the Ecuadorian Amazon region for the first time.
But the most observed places for this behavior are in the tropics of Africa, Asia and Madagascar. "This new discovery helps expand an interesting biogeographical zone where drinking tears is supposed to be diverse, but little known." Engel said.
Moraes continued his fieldwork in the Amazon and continued to observe his surroundings carefully. The report "involves only a single case of two Amazon species, and it also allows us to imagine thousands of other unknown ecological relationships." He said.
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