It also does preserve many of these animals’ bodies, specifically due to the combination of chemicals that are deposited into the water via runoff from a nearby Great Rift Valley volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai. As the New Scientist says, the lake can reach temperatures up to 60 ☌ and has an alkalinity between pH 9 and pH 10.5, making it pretty dang gross on the best of days - it can even burn the skin and eyes of animals who aren’t adapted to it. No one is disputing that Natron is a dangerous place for most species, of course. Yes, the occasional flamingo dies and is preserved, but as you can see from the featured image above, there are plenty more that come out just fine. The lake is also one of the largest breeding ground for North Africa’s lesser flamingos (not to be confused with the greater flamingo, which has a different bill and is just a bit larger– you know, “greater”), who come to the lake to feed on the aforementioned algae. There are species that are perfectly capable of living near lake Natron without facing inevitable doom - specifically, there are extremophile fish, bacterium, and a specific type of algae that thrives in the alkaline-rich waters. Those that fall in and perish are exceptionally preserved by the salts that make the lake so unique, but the lake’s surface isn’t an aquatic equivalent of the Medusa’s gaze. And for thoseĪnimals that do become interred here, animals don’t immediately die and turn to stone upon touching the lake. Lake Natron is a hots pot for beautiful life. Anything else that comes into contact with Natron or its vapors for too long dies, due to the lake’s insane sodium levels that make it nearly as corrosive as ammonia.īecause of its alkalinity and temperatures that can spike up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the lake also dries out and calcifies the animals’ carcasses, eternally preserving them as desiccated flesh statues via the same process used by the Ancient Egyptians to create mummies. Placid Lake Natron is lethal to pretty much every life form except for a certain species of extremophile fish (the official fish of the X Games). In Lake Natron’s case, it’s skimming over the fact that the waters mummify hundreds of animals every year. Located near the Tanzanian-Kenyan border.
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