When someone feigns1 sadness they “cry crocodile tears,” a phrase that comes from an old myth that the animals cry while eating.

      Now, a University of Florida researcher has concluded that crocodiles really do bawl2 while banqueting3—but for physiological4 reasons rather than rascally remorse5.

      UF zoologist Kent Vliet observed and videotaped four captive6 caimans7 and three alligators8, both close relatives of the crocodile, while eating on a spit of dry land9 at Florida’s St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.
 
      He found that five of the seven animals teared10 up as they tore into11 their food, with some of their eyes even frothing and bubbling12.
 
      “There are a lot of references in general literature to crocodiles feeding and crying, but it’s almost entirely anecdotal13,” Vliet said. “And from the biological perspective14 there is quite a bit of confusion on the subject in the scientific literature, so we decided to take a closer look.”
 
      A paper about the research appears in the latest edition of the journal BioScience.
 
      Vliet said he began the project after a call from D. Malcolm Shaner, a consultant in neurology15 at Kaiser Permanente16, West Los Angeles, and an associate clinical professor of neurology17 at the University of California, Los Angeles.
 
      Shaner, who co-authored the paper, was investigating a relatively rare syndrome18 associated with human facial palsy19 that causes sufferers to cry while eating. For a presentation20 he planned to give at a conference of clinical neurologists, he wanted to know if physicians’ general term for the syndrome, crocodile tears, had any basis in biological fact.
 
      Shaner and Vliet uncovered numerous references to crocodile tears in books published from hundreds of years ago to the present.
 
      The term may have gained wide popularity as a result of a passage in the book, The Voyage and Travel of Sir John Mandeville21, first published in 1400 and read widely, they write.
 
      Says the passage， “In that country be a general plenty of crocodiles ... These serpents22 slay23 men and they eat them weeping.”
 
      Shaner and Vliet also found reference to crocodiles crying in scientific literature, but it was contradictory or confusing, to say the least24. 
 
      “One scientist, working early last century, decided to try to determine if the myth was true by rubbing25 onion and salt into crocodiles’ eyes,” Shaner said. “When they didn’t tear up, he wrongly concluded it was false.” As Shaner said, “The problem with those experiments was that he did not examine them when they were eating. He just put onion and salt on their eyes.”
 
      As a result, Vliet decided to do his own observations.
 
      In the myth, crocodiles often cry while eating humans. However, deadpanned26 Shaner, “we were not able to feed a person to the crocodiles.”
 
      Instead, Vliet had to settle for27 the dog biscuit28 like alligator food that is the staple29 at the St. Augustine alligator farm. He decided to observe alligators and caimans, rather than crocodiles, because they are trained at the farm to feed on dry land. That’s critical to seeing the tearing because in water the animals’ eyes would be wet anyway.
 
      “The farm’s keepers don’t train the crocodiles to feed on land because they are so agile30 and aggressive31”, Vliet said. But he said he feels sure they would have the same reaction as alligators and caimans, because all are closely related crocodilians. 
 
      What causes the tears remains a bit of a mystery.
 
      Vliet said he believes they may occur as a result of the animals’ hissing32 and huffing33， a behavior that often accompanies34 feeding. Air forced through the sinuses35 may mix with tears in the crocodiles’ lacrimal glands36 emptying into the eye.
 
      But one thing is sure: faux37 grief38 is not a factor. “In my experience,” Vliet said, “when crocodiles take something into their mouth, they mean39 it.”

Notes:
 1. feign假装  
 2. bawl 放声痛哭 
 3. banquet大餐一顿 
 4. physiological 生理学的 
 5. rascally remorse 卑鄙的怜悯 
 6. captive 圈养的 
 7. caiman 凯门鳄 
 8. alligator 短吻鳄 
 9. a spit of dry land 陆地上的一个岬角
10. tear流泪
11. tear into猛攻，撕咬 
12. frothing and bubbling起泡 
13. anecdotal 逸闻趣事的 
14. from the biological perspective 从生物学角度 
15. neurology神经学 
16. Kaiser Permanente 凯撒保健集团 
17. associate clinical professor of neurology 临床神经学副教授 
18. syndrome综合症
19. facial palsy 面部瘫痪 
20. presentation 演讲，讲座
21. The Voyage and Travel of Sir John Mandeville, 《约翰•曼德维尔爵士航海及旅行记》，内容多取材于百科全书及他人的游记 
22. serpent 大毒蛇 
23. slay 杀死 
24. to say the least　至少可以说 
25. rub擦 
26. deadpanned 面无表情的 
27. settle for 将就，只好如此 
28. dog biscuit喂狗的硬饼干  29. staple 主要食物 
30. agile 灵活的 
31. aggressive进攻性强的 
32. hiss 发嘶嘶声 
33. huff发怒 
34. accompany伴随，陪伴 
35. sinus鼻窦，窦 
36. lacrimal gland 泪腺 
37. faux 假的 
38. grief 悲痛 
39. mean 打算，意欲