Jason EganA Tribute to Steve Irwin - Do crocodiles cry ‘crocodile tears’?
September 6th 2006 12:35
Rest in peace buddy.
You can just see the 'tear' beginning to form...
However, it is not entirely folklore. Crocodiles do form real tears. Produced in the same gland that human tears flow from (the lachrymal glands), the fluid helps keep the eye clean, lubricates the passage of the nictitating membrane (the crocodile’s third eyelid), and helps reduce the chance of bacterial growth. These ‘tears’ are only ever noticeable if the crocodile has been out of the water for a long time, as the eyes begin to dry out.
Crocodiles do not literally cry. That is a myth. So where would the idea of crocodiles producing tears come from? The origin is debateable, but it can be ascertained how such an irony – the vicious and powerful character of the crocodile actually crying – could become popular.
The myth was noted in France as early as the 13th century. A Franciscan monk called Bartholomaeus Anglicus wrote in the encyclopaedia of natural sciences: “If the crocodile findeth a man by the brim of the water, or by the cliff, he slayeth him there if he may, and then weepeth upon him and swalloweth him at last”.
Methinks he was probably high on crack!
In the 16th century, the famous slaver John Hawkins and his crew noticed crocodiles in the Caribbean, and reported they would “…cry and sobbe like a Christian body”. It was claimed that in doing so, they would lure sympathetic onlookers close enough to chomp them up. This horror image was so commanding, that it continued well into the 18th and 19th century.
The first recorded citation of ‘crocodile tears’, based on its current meaning, was in the 16th century. Edmund Grindal, the Archbishop of York and of Canterbury, used the phrase with the implication of insincerity:
“I begin to fear, lest his humility…be a counterfeit humility, and his tears crocodile tears.”
This crocodile has been out of the water for a while!
| 123 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Anonymous