You can take a million photos using Snapchat’s golden butterfly crown filter, but you’ll never look as magnificent as this caiman alligator did in this most perfect IRL play on selfies.
It might look like something out of a children’s movie, but no Photoshop is involved. Mark Cowan captured this fantastic image while he was on a scientific expedition studying reptile and amphibian diversity in the Amazon with researchers from the University of Michigan.
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This “in real life” (IRL) photograph is even more spectacular because nature is truly at work here. Because sodium is often scarce in the Amazon, bees and butterflies often lick up the salt tears of turtles and alligators. The process of “tear-feeding” is called lachryphagy and is extremely hard to witness in nature. These intricate creatures sip on tears to get sodium and other minerals which are needed for egg production and metabolism. While the mutual benefits are not yet proven, as long as the tear-providers are not too bothered, let the feast continue! The little caiman alligator sure doesn’t seem to mind.
What an amazing fact to learn, and another example of why we must do all we can to protect our precious wildlife.
