r/AskReddit • u/Rikashido • 29d ago

What’s a fact that’s real, but sounds completely fake?

13k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

View all comments

6k

u/OtherwiseInclined 28d ago edited 28d ago

In madagascar there lives a species of moth that feeds (ETA: almost) exclusively on the tears of sleeping birds.

2k

u/DerKeksinator 28d ago

Madagaskar must have some pretty depressed birds then...

49

u/BAMFmartinFTW 28d ago

Kowalski, analysis!

14

u/dean078 28d ago

They got some smartass penguins too.

10

u/Illokonereum 28d ago

Else some very hungry moths.

5

u/CrispyCrunchyPoptart 28d ago

Maybe I belong in Madagascar :/

3

u/Maximum-Fan-6142 28d ago

lol..... Depressed birds they must be

6

u/Zroskyline 28d ago

Unless it is there enemy

1k

u/nagese 28d ago

This is emo as fuck....

78

u/leedzah 28d ago

You mean emu as fuck?

... I'll see myself out.

57

u/asek13 28d ago

No, emus feed on the tears of Australians they've defeated in battle

11

u/Tchrspest 28d ago

Which, at last count, was the entire population of Australia.

3

u/searchanddestrOi 28d ago

Emu War is another real fact that sounds fake.

5

u/Nosrenda101 28d ago

You beat me to it

8

u/Huev0 28d ago

Just imagine the songs about this,

“I neeeeed your tears to SUUHHR-VIIIIIVVEEE!!” 🎶

3

u/tsuchisaka 28d ago

This guy gets it

2

u/cjjb95 28d ago

*emu

3

u/OneFeistyDuck 28d ago

This is emu as fuck.

4

u/trentonl 28d ago

Emu as fuck

45

u/TaiKwando12 28d ago

The question here is, why are the birds crying?

80

u/no1ofconsequencedied 28d ago

Because the moth is whispering cruel things into their ears while they sleep?

35

u/load_more_comets 28d ago

You'll never be able to fly as good as your father, you don't have the talent nor the skill. You will always be in his shadow no matter how high or how far you think you've flown.

8

u/JRansomBioDermKiller 28d ago

slurpslurpslurpslurp

10

u/Jonnny 28d ago

That cruel moth-erfucker!

4

u/ShortRaven 28d ago

Because king Julian

1

u/Kool_McKool 24d ago

I like to move it move it

7

u/SupahCraig 28d ago

Because you touch yourself at night.

1

u/SupahCraig 28d ago

Also, the final season of GoT.

1

u/TheDarkWave 28d ago

Something something Artist Formerly Known as Prince

12

u/lbseida 28d ago

What's it called?

28

u/OtherwiseInclined 28d ago

Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica

It's common name is very inconspicuous being the "Tear drinking moth".

3

u/gouflook 28d ago

Prince

11

u/some_shady_guy 28d ago

I looked it up and it doesn't feed exclusively on tears but drinks them as a boost of proteins.

7

u/OtherwiseInclined 28d ago

Tears are at least the main portion of their diet last time I heard. So exclusively is a nice sounding exaggeration.

5

u/Razzle_Dazzle08 28d ago

Read this as “sloth” at first.

5

u/Guzling 28d ago

Now I'm imaging a smug moth with a political YouTube show that has a "bird tears" mug. And its only way to survive is by owning bird-tards.

3

u/jondonbovi 28d ago

TIL Tom Brady is a moth

3

u/fatboyhari 28d ago

I've actually been to Madagascar and did not know this! If I did we'd have at least asked around about this moth.

Madagascar has some absolutely brilliant biodiversity. And such beautiful trees.

3

u/mdnightwriter 28d ago

Bröther may I have the tëars

2

u/TheMoth264 28d ago

Mmm, salty

2

u/Kimb0_91 28d ago

Oeh this is a good one

2

u/IHaveWitnesses 28d ago

I seach it up... It is a actual thing.

2

u/JeromesDream 28d ago

We never should have let the surrealists practice zoology.

2

u/Living_Job_8127 28d ago

Wow there’s a species out there just like me. Those delicious tears

2

u/OFthickcrystal 28d ago

Ngl, you won with this one

2

u/ImpracticallySharp 28d ago

I don't think we can criticize the moths for doing that; who among us can honestly say that we've never fed on the tears of sleeping birds? It's almost impossible to resist.

1

u/LunaLovegood83 28d ago

Excuse me, what the fuck?

1

u/iinaasking 28d ago

Trump became president.

1

u/Phil0sophy101 28d ago

What's the name of the moth. Because that is the name if my future emo band for sure!

1

u/7th_Spectrum 28d ago

That is so oddly specific

1

u/skret_1982 28d ago

Do NOT google this it looks so fricken gross. r/eyebleach if you did google it

1

u/agent_jackDaniels 28d ago

I didn’t see that on the movie.

1

u/LOUD-AF 28d ago

Ahhh, the classic Gypsy Moth. Borat was correct.

1

u/Oxxixuit 28d ago

Wayyy too specific to be fake

1

u/Rhymery 27d ago

Madagascar mascara

-1

u/Lissy_Wolfe 28d ago

Well that's not true, so it doesn't really fit here haha They do drink tears, but it's not even close to their main food source.

4

u/OtherwiseInclined 28d ago

Moths feeding on tears from bird eyes have not previously been reported. Thus, these observations from Madagascar appear highly significant. For most ophthalmotropic moth species, tears form the largest part of their diet and they are not specialized to a single host species
(11) (PDF) Malagasy birds as hosts for eye-frequenting moths. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6552800\_Malagasy\_birds\_as\_hosts\_for\_eye-frequenting\_moths [accessed Aug 12 2021].