Any Animal That Touches This Lethal Lake Turns to Stone

Lake Natron in northern Tanzania is so salty, anything that falls into it and dies becomes calcified. It’s also the main breeding ground of East Africa’s 2.5 million Lesser Flamingoes. (Photo: Creative Commons

www.isciencetimes.com...

spirit_horse
Very cool. Makes the story in the Bible about Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt more plausible or interesting at least. I believe Sodom and Gomorah were towns along or near the Dead Sea, which is another body of water with high salinity and soda concentrations. Perhaps whatever weapon or power that was used to destroy those towns was capable of causing the same effect, only speeding up the process. Still leaves a lot to be explained, because it happened only when looked at.

But, these pics of posed dead creatures are strange to look at indeed. Thanks for bringing that to us OP.

Those days, they all worse desert clothing all the way down to the feet, with only the face exposed. So she turns round, and the thermal radiation from gods wrath ie. heat, turns her face to ash - leaving her looking just like a pillar of salt.

reply to post by Volund


Another great find Thanks and S&F OP. You have left me wanting to know more so off i go to hit the web.


Indisputable

I saw this today, and I thought it was incredible because for a second I thought the birds had died in those places. Then I started to wonder how they died on a tree and it later stated that they had been positioned by the photographer.

Either way though, it's incredible. The photos look amazing. And it is, obviously, deadly. But from a ecological and scientific POV it's very, very interesting.

reply to post by indisputable


I'm pretty sure i've seen this before and if it's the same lake then it definitely doesn't petrify anything that touches it. I'm sure i've seen a documentary of live flamingo chicks living on the edge of this lake that develop heavy bracelets round their ankles if they dont fledge in time. Its just a gradual build up of calcium if i remember correctly.

Anything that falls in the lake and drowns or is already dead will end up covered in the same deposits but only on the outside. The pics are of dead animals recovered from the water or mud and mounted for the photos.

Pretty cool and cruel stuff nonetheless.

helldiver
reply to post by indisputable

 

I'm pretty sure i've seen this before and if it's the same lake then it definitely doesn't petrify anything that touches it. I'm sure i've seen a documentary of live flamingo chicks living on the edge of this lake that develop heavy bracelets round their ankles if they dont fledge in time. Its just a gradual build up of calcium if i remember correctly.

Anything that falls in the lake and drowns or is already dead will end up covered in the same deposits but only on the outside. The pics are of dead animals recovered from the water or mud and mounted for the photos.

Pretty cool and cruel stuff nonetheless.

I did a search and came up with this. Nothing compares to this video, I looked on youtube but this video is pretty dramatic and you can hear them hammering the buildup off the baby birds legs.

Video of baby flamingos

I would imagine the lake bottom holds many interesting finds.

Nice find! SnF

reply to post by Volund


Aye that's the one, i remember the narrator saying that usually they dont interfere with nature but in this case they couldn't help it. No way i could witness those chicks and not do anything. Good on them i say!

micpsi
This is a totally dishonest series of photos put together by a photographer for his book. They appear to depict dead birds turned into statues on branches of trees. In reality, he found their carcases lying about on the shore of a lake contaminated with sodium carbonate from volcanic ash. They had become preserved in the dry atmosphere after being poisoned. Then he stuck them into branches of dead trees to make them look like statues before photographing them in posed positions. This may be artistic, but it sure ain't honest photographic journalism!

Don't be deceived by the phony title of this story. It grabs attention, which the photographer no doubt wanted for his photos, but It's inaccurate.

How is it dishonest when the photographer admits as much? You know many of those nice up close images you see of insects are actually dead bugs too right? it's not uncommon or dishonest.

mcx1942
I was wondering as well how there are images of them not touching the water.

I believe the photographer took artistic liberties and may have placed them for his liking.

It's cool, I still dig the images.

You obviously didn't read the article at all.

The photographer found a few examples, and posed them for the pictures. He posed them, to make them look as if they turned to stone.


I think some of you guys are mis-reading the article. I don't blame you, because it is misleading.

It appears that the lake is NOT lethal. The lake has high concentrations of certain minerals and elements.....and so animals that die, which are covered in the water from the lake, end up, over a VERY long period of time.....calcifying, instead of rotting.

Very Interesting.
Thanks for sharing.

Nothing much to add other then cool thread. However though the thread tittle may be a bit misleading, I can see a few ways some of these animals end up calcified, one being they were on deaths door already when they ended up in the lake.

The ones in the pictures are all flying animals such as bats and eagles. It could just be they were injured and took a tumble or maybe old and on there last legs or wing when flying over that lake. But seeing some of the pictures of this lake, it is rather attractive to the eye, and it could be that they were in the area and decided to go down and see what it was. I think most of the animals in those pictures were not from around the area or habitat, there is a reason why the guy did not find and fish out a bunch of flamingos as they would know not to get caught in it, the other animals they probably did not have a clue what the lake was but it was attractive to the eye, and birds are known to be attracted to shiny or colorful things. The eagle I can see diving for fish and somehow ending up caught under, though I do not think there is any fish in that lake, however just checked in the wiki which says there is a type of fish which can survive in the lake, the Alcolapia fish.

Who knows I suppose. Though the lake is not deep at all, check the wiki on it--> Lake Natron and the flamingos migrate there and eat the algae that spawn there, and because the lake does not support that much wildlife, and is not drinkable and not only that but is harmful if it comes in contact with other animal life, such as the pictures in the op's link show. Well that and the lake seems to go through seasons were it recedes, making little island mudflats here and there, perfect for flamingos to build there breeding nests and feeding grounds, making it ideal, and not having to worry about predators bothering with the area because of the acidic nature of the lake and area.

Its a pretty cool lake, I swam in a salt pool before which was pumped from underground salt mine and other then the fact that you practically float because of the salt content, it did leave you felling really dry when you got out of it. I take it this lake if you went swimming in it, do to the high salt content and the bacteria and algae and other alkaline substances. Well it would probably not be good for your skin at all and leave you feeling like salted beef jerky after a dive in that lake.

A vid of the lake, you can see the flamingos only stay in the less alkaline shallow areas, and it shows just how shallow this lake is, or how shallow it can get, its literally or at least in some seasons it seems, not even knee deep.

And just because its a wicked cool picture.

I just figure out that it's hyperbolic bull#.

en.wikipedia.org...

The high temperature (up to 41°C) and the high and very variable salt content of the lake does not support wildlife. However it is an important habitat for flamingos and is home to endemic algae, invertebrates and round the margins even fish that can survive in the slightly less salty water.

The lake is the only regular breeding area in East Africa for the 2.5 million Lesser Flamingoes, whose status of "near threatened" is a consequence of their dependence on the single breeding location. As salinity increases, so do the number of cyanobacteria, and the lake can support more nests. These flamingoes, the single large flock in East Africa, gather along saline lakes in the region, where they feed on Spirulina (a blue-green algae with red pigments). Lake Natron is a safe breeding location because its caustic environment is a barrier against predators trying to reach their nests on seasonally-forming evaporite islands. Greater Flamingo also breed on the mud flats.

Even more amazing than the ability of the flamingoes to live in these conditions is the fact that two endemic fish species, the alkaline tilapias (Alcolapia latilabris and A. ndalalani; A. alcalica is also present in the lake, but not endemic), thrive in the waters at the edges of the hot spring inlets.

Cool photos nonetheless.

reply to post by Volund


This is really cool! Why did I spend my whole life not knowing of this place? I think a lot of ex wives are going to get a free trip to a "natural spring" if you know what I mean

reply to post by Volund


Reminded me of this song..



: D

Em2013
reply to post by Volund

 

This is really cool! Why did I spend my whole life not knowing of this place? I think a lot of ex wives are going to get a free trip to a "natural spring" if you know what I mean

Are you referring indirectly to Lot's wife, if so that's really funny! If not not so funny imho. : )

Lady_Tuatha
reply to post by Volund

 

Very cool thanks for posting

this little guy looks sooo evil lol

If that's a bat, it is supposed to be hanging upside down. I guess when you're dead, you can do anything you haven't done when you're alive.
But looking at the background, the photo was probably posted wrongly.

Wow that is wild.

So what makes this lake different from the Great Salt Lake or the salty lake in Europe (Baltic? Dead Sea?)? They are also high in salt content but don't turn things to stone. I'll have to look it up later because that is curious. Probably has something to do with the volcanos or maybe it's cursed.

Very cool either way.

reply to post by Volund
Typical misleading headline for an ATS thread. The animals turn to stone after being pickled in the very basic waters of the lake. Perhaps an animal drinks some of the water and then dies, falling in it, but touching the water doesn't turn it to stone.

The pictures are interesting, as is the nature of the lake, but two thumbs down on the false title to the thread.