If someone pretends to feel sorry for someonehe himself also offended, then they say about such an offender: “It pours crocodile tears”. In other words, in this case, it is insincere tears that accompany hypocritical regret. It's time to find out why the crocodile is crying, because he is bloodthirsty and far from kind.
Some nations in ancient times foundthe presence of crocodiles such a dominant trait as a tendency to cheat. Thousands of years ago in Egypt, these animals inhabiting the Nile were credited with divine evil. In order to win the favor of bloodthirsty and insidious reptiles, the locals cared for them in all possible ways: they gave food, delivered ritual and magic speeches to them. But why crocodiles cry when they eat, they did not understand.
Fantasy people had no limits.For example, you can find the following amusing description of the behavior of a crocodile with a famous ancient Greek explorer. An insidious reptile with a mouthful of river water rushed to the steep path to water it abundantly, and then hid in ambush and waited for the victim. It is not difficult to guess what happened to unsuspecting people or animals who were walking down the slippery slope of the river to quench their thirst. For all the fantastic nature of such facts confirming deceit, they are still not so groundless. Why does a crocodile cry during a meal? It is possible that he felt sorry for his food.
Various sources retell the ancient legend of the tearful crying of a crocodile over the ruthlessly slaughtered victim, which he immediately eats.
From the 9th century came the "Library", over whichPatriarch Photius, who lived in Constantinople, labored. In this pseudoscientific work, there was a place for the legend of a crying crocodile over the heads of those unfortunates whose remnants he had devoured. The author suggested a rather interesting hypothesis, according to which it is not pity at all that squeezes tears out of a crocodile, but the absence of meat in the victim's skull. That's why crocodiles cry when they eat.
In the 12th century in Western Europe, the scientific work of Hugo Victorian appeared, which also deals with crocodile tears. This theme also slips into later periods.
In 1357, residents of the city of Liege (territorymodern Belgium) had the opportunity to get acquainted with the work "The Travels of Mandeville". An unknown author in one of the stories tells how Ethiopian crocodiles cry while eating people.
I did not ignore the topic of crocodile tears17th century Russian dictionary reference book "Alphabet Book". In the section on the crocodile, the characteristics of the beast living in the water are almost the same as those in the Photius Library. That is, a crocodile cries after, having dealt with the human body, it cannot decide what to do with his head.
In Latin and Greek versions of "Physiologists"the image of a crocodile was associated with the concept of hell and the image of the devil. Everything that was put in opposition to him was related to Jesus Christ. Unlike Christ’s tears, crocodile tears in the understanding of Christians are apostasy from righteous faith. Nevertheless, people did not get tired of thinking about the version why the crocodile was crying.
Unnoticed, since about the 50s of the 17thcentury, the expression "crocodile tears" goes from the plane of its relationship with the Christian virtue. Allegory is increasingly becoming the subject of sentimentalism, which has appeared in the literature of a new direction. Thus, the Russian fabulist Mazdorf AK in the work “Tears of a Crocodile” is sentimental tearfulness ridiculed and presented in an ironic form. But the satirist Erasmus of Rotterdam (“The Praise of Stupidity”) offered his playful interpretation - a hungry crocodile who saw the victim reflexively salivates, which is perceived as tears. It is impossible to say for sure whether a crocodile is crying.
An attempt to scientifically explain the originCrocodile tears have been undertaken by Schmidt-Nielson and Fange - modern researchers from Sweden. Salts that have accumulated in the body in excess can not be removed from it by the kidneys. Special glands that are located in the eye area help to cope with this task. Periodically, as necessary, they open, and salt leaves the body. Nature, in addition to crocodiles, has endowed such "abilities" with some other representatives of this class of animals, namely, turtles, iguanas and sea snakes. Now you know why the crocodile is crying.
Florida zoologists confirmed the proposedtheory of Swedish colleagues by experimenting with caimans and alligators. Moreover, the fact of the allocation of "tears" during the meal is captured by a video camera. This was the proof of a scientific theory.
