In a short home video from Brazil, a small puppy lying on a patterned rug on the front porch spots a butterfly fluttering just above him. Instead of snapping at it, he rolls onto his back and reaches up with soft, slow paws while the butterfly dips and circles over him. His owner, Lúcia Kohl Dalmolin, filmed the moment and shared it on Facebook, where it was picked up by The Dodo and widely shared.
It is a tiny scene, under a minute long, but it raises good questions. Was the puppy really playing? Why would a butterfly hang around a dog at all? And is it true that some insects in Brazil drink animals’ tears? Here is what we know.
What the video shows
The clip begins with the puppy watching the butterfly with obvious interest. As it drops lower, he flops onto his back and paws gently at the air, much as a baby bats at a mobile above a cot. The butterfly keeps returning, sometimes appearing to mirror his movements, and the person filming can be heard laughing and pointing it out.
What makes the footage charming is the restraint. Young dogs often chase anything that moves, and a single snap would end the game. Here the puppy never seems to try to catch or bite; he simply follows the insect with his paws and eyes.
Video: Lúcia Kohl Dalmolin on Facebook.
Was the puppy really playing?
We cannot know what was going on in his head, but his body language fits what animal behaviourists describe as play. Signs of play in dogs include loose, wiggly movements, rolling over, pawing, a relaxed open mouth and repeated “approach and retreat” with a partner. A dog that intends to hunt usually moves very differently: still, focused, body stiff and low.
Puppies also play with almost anything, including leaves, shadows and their own tails, because play is how young animals practise coordination and learn about the world. A slow, dancing butterfly is the perfect moving target for a pup who has not yet learned to stalk.
As for the butterfly copying the dog, that is almost certainly our imagination. Butterflies fly in jerky, unpredictable paths, partly to make themselves hard for birds to catch, so it is easy to see patterns that are not there.
Why butterflies land on animals
There is a real reason butterflies sometimes seem drawn to mammals, including people. Many butterflies and moths practise “mud-puddling”: they gather on wet soil, dung, rotting fruit, carrion and even sweat to suck up fluids rich in salts, especially sodium, and amino acids. Nectar is mostly sugar, so these extra nutrients are hard to come by.
Puddling is more common in males. In some species the males pass the sodium and amino acids on to females during mating as a kind of “nuptial gift”, which appears to help egg survival. A warm, slightly salty dog on a sunny porch could easily interest a passing butterfly, although there is no way to tell from the video whether that is what happened here.
The Brazilian moths that drink tears
Some lepidopterans go one step further and drink tears, a habit scientists call lachryphagy. A widely shared claim says that Brazilian butterflies land on animals at night to sip from their eyes. The real story involves moths.
In 2018 biologist Leandro Moraes of the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus published an observation in the journal Ecology. While searching for amphibians and reptiles at night along the Solimões River in the Brazilian Amazon, he found a moth, Gorgone macarea, perched on the neck of a sleeping black-chinned antbird and drinking from its eye. National Geographic reported it as the first such case recorded in Brazil and only the third known worldwide involving birds.
Why tears? They contain salt, but also proteins such as albumin and globulin, which may help moths fly longer and reproduce better. Tear-drinking has also been seen in moths and butterflies feeding on crocodiles, turtles and mammals, in solitary bees drinking river turtles’ tears in the Ecuadorian Amazon in 2012, and in certain flies.
The birds showed no sign of discomfort, but the habit is not entirely harmless. Tear-drinking moths are suspected of spreading eye diseases among livestock, and some tear-feeding flies can carry parasites. So the old internet line that the process “causes no harm at all” is too confident.
Keeping puppies and insects safe
A butterfly is about the safest insect a puppy can play with, but curious young dogs will chase bees, wasps, caterpillars and beetles too. A few sensible habits help:
- Let a puppy watch and paw at insects, but distract him from mouthing stinging insects or hairy caterpillars, some of which can irritate a dog’s mouth.
- Learn the signs of an allergic reaction to a sting, such as swelling around the face, hives, vomiting or trouble breathing, and call your vet straight away if you see them.
- Avoid using insect sprays where pets play, and keep any pesticides locked away.
- Remember that the butterfly is fragile too; a gentle pup like this one is a good sign, but a rough one can easily damage its wings.
A small moment from a very big country
Brazil is one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth, and the Amazon alone is home to about 1,300 bird species and an estimated 2.5 million kinds of insect, according to National Geographic. Most of that life goes unseen by people. A puppy on a porch, rolling over to greet a butterfly, is a reminder that encounters between species happen every day, in backyards as well as rainforests, and that some of them are simply lovely to watch.
Sources: Video and image: Lúcia Kohl Dalmolin on Facebook, via The Dodo. National Geographic, 27 September 2018: Moths drink birds’ tears in the Amazon; Wikipedia: Mud-puddling.
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