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Why Turtles Cry?
by Biol. Oscar S. Aranda Mena |
Anyone who has seen a turtle nesting on the beach can tell you how deeply moved they felt when they saw her appear to cry while laying her eggs. Whatever her reason for crying, her tears send us a poignant message. The MythsFishers tell of sea turtles crying out of sadness while laying their eggs on the beach. That they cry for abandoning their babies, leaving them alone to face a perilous future alone. Others believe that the crying of the turtles is due to the pain they feel as they lay their eggs. The Reality While the turtles are laying, their eyes excrete a few thick jelly-like tears, which accumulate around the eye. The fact that the turtles dig in the sand causes sand to fly in their face, and the tears help keep their eyes clean. Over time, the tears can literally "hang" and run off, as if crying profusely, which is extremely useful if we consider that during the nesting process, they dig up tens of kilos of sand. The truth is that our own range of emotions can cause us to project that turtles mourn as people do. Although the reason is purely physiological (a necessity in the body), people tend to prefer an explanation closer to human emotions. The reason Imagine that you had to drink salt water. It is well known that shipwrecked individuals who drink saltwater die much sooner than those who do not drink at all, even if they are dehydrated. The reason is that salt is a toxic component to our body and, in some ways, we should eliminate it. Now imagine a sea turtle that constantly eats and drinks large quantities of salt water.  Thus, sea turtles, as well as marine mammals, must "eliminate" the salt they eat and what better way than through their tears. Their body has developed two specialized glands behind the eye, which are even bigger than their brain and continually produce a "hyper-saline" substance that excretes unnoticed while in the water.Other Realities It is rather ironic that, while being a more "civilized" species, humans continue to kill turtles to eat their eggs and meat. Having such an endless quantity and variety of foods available, there can be no justification for the killing to continue. I can't help but consider that fishermen's theory may not really be so wrong about the tears, and that far from scientific reasoning; we should be more human, more aware of the sad reality that happens every night on the beaches of Mexico. Could it be that the turtles that come to nest, actually cry for each one of those turtles that will be lost along the way, for those who will fail to leave their own offspring because of a net, a hook, or the fault of an ambitious cruel and unscrupulous person (there is no other way to put it), whose only reason to kill them is greed and a chilling and inexplicable indifference to the miracle of life. Perhaps those tears the turtles shed when leaving the beach are their way mourning all the lost animals on the planet, pleading with us to be more aware of the value of life and to respect Mother Nature every day, and allowing us to continue to experience the miracle that occurs every summer night: the nesting of the sea turtles. I can only say that in more than one occasion I have joined their cause, having shed a tear for those turtles that have died unnecessarily and unfairly. |
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