Moths Sucking Bird Tears

Posted by Rosemary Drisdelle Dec 27, 2006

We’ve seen moths drinking from the eyes of ungulates like deer and antelope, but we’ve never seen them settled on the neck of a sleeping bird and sucking fluid through a long proboscis anchored inside the birds eyelids. Scientists Roland Hilgartner (German Primate Centre in Göttingen, Germany), and Mamisolo Raoilison Hilgartner (University of Antananarivo in Madagascar), have observed moths in Madagascar doing just that.

The moths, apparently seeking the salt content of birds’ tears, insert their proboscis through the sleeping bird’s eyelids and draw out the liquid. The bird, meanwhile, slumbers on undisturbed. Hopefully this theft does not adversely affect the birds too much, though its effect remains to be studied. Read the full account by Debora MacKenzie and see pictures at NewScientist.com

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