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IntoxiKated
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wigan baby yeah!
Posts: 34,925
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IntoxiKated
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wigan baby yeah!
Posts: 34,925
Favourites (more):
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I've googled it. You're right Parmy.
It's fairly common for people looking at elephants - both in zoo or circus settings and those lucky enough to see them in the wild - to notice that they have liquid seeping from the corners of their eyes. Some advocacy groups say elephants are crying because they're sad, but scientists say that elephants don't have tear ducts. If the latter is true, where is that liquid coming from, and why? It turns out elephants have evolved an innovative method of keeping their eyes moist due to their semi-aquatic ancestry that comes with an unexpected side-effect - the constant dribbling of fluid from the corners of their eyes. While this may look superficially like emotional "crying", it occurs simply because elephants have lost the normal mammalian structures that drain excess moisture away from their eyes; without a true lacrimal structure, elephants are physically unable to produce emotional tears.*
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