Butterflies like bizarre cocktails: sweat, urine and turtle tears are favorite

Big sodium fans, butterflies do not find him abundantly in the Amazon rainforest. They look for her in old friends-the turtles.

If you have already questioned what the pair together the unlikely butterfly and turtle pair – already captured by several photographers in the Amazon on strange dances – the answer is simple: They help each other.

The turtles are crying, and the butterflies are very fans of tears. Not for sentimental reasons, but for survival reasons.

Now, when an Amazonian turtle cries, it is common to appear a border to suck the tears. This is because, as you have already felt if you already “sucked” your own tears, these are quite salty, due to high presence of sodium.

This ingredient is very useful for butterflies (especially in the Amazon, where it is not abundant), who unlike humans are not fans of ready -made meals and spices – they have to pursue sodium from turtles… or other even less conventional sources for us humans.

According to, these colorful insects, in addition to their favorite cocktail – which also makes turtles happy, because they have “clean tears” – they also taste for other liquids with great presence of this component.

This is the case of human fluids, such as sweat or urine – that extract in much of other animals. Other preferences also pass the puddles of water.

The turtles, blinded by the kisses of butterflies, are sometimes easier to photograph. If you visit the Amazon, look for the orange dots – or multicolors.