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The Clean Cut: Why do humans cry?
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Erika Bergman, a National Geographic explorer, shares details about why humans cry in a recent Facebook video. - photo by Whitney Butters Wilde
Why do humans cry?

Other animals, including crocodiles and dogs, tear up, but according to a recent National Geographic video, humans are unique in crying for emotional reasons.

"If our tears are a sign to others that we need a little empathy, it helps explain why emotional crying is uniquely human since connecting with others defines us as a species," National Geographic explorere Erica Bergman states in the video.

Bergman details several different theories as to why humans cry, sharing multiple interesting facts along the way, including details about how emotional tears have a different chemical composition that tears we get from chopping an onion.

The video is part of National Geographic's We're Wired That Way series, which launched Aug. 29 as a Facebook-exclusive series.
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