{"id":190589,"date":"2025-12-18T04:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/190589\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T04:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:22:13","slug":"new-study-reveals-salt-to-blame-for-missing-mega-herbivores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/190589\/","title":{"rendered":"New study reveals salt to blame for missing mega-herbivores"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa\u2019s biggest animals may be rare, in part, because there isn\u2019t enough salt<\/a>, according to a new study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In research led by Northern Arizona University (NAU), scientists discovered that the availability of salt may limit the number of mega-herbivores \u2013 such as elephants<\/a>, rhinos and giraffes \u2013 in West and Central Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that salt plays an important role in shaping the density and distribution of large mammals across Africa,\u201d lead author Dr Andrew Abraham<\/a>, now a research associate at City University of New York, told BBC Science Focus.<\/p>\n

Abraham\u2019s team generated high-resolution maps which displayed the saltiness of plants in different areas. Then, they tested animal dung for signs of salt deficiency.<\/p>\n

Together with data on animal populations, this revealed that there were fewer large herbivores in areas where there was less salt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile all animals need salt to think, move and survive, sodium is not important for most plants,\u201d explained Abraham. \u201cTherefore, the concentrations of salt in plant leaves vary considerably depending on the saltiness of the environment that plant grows in.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, plants might contain more salt if they\u2019re growing near the sea, or in saltier soils.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that across Africa, the least salty plants have a thousand times less sodium than the saltiest plants,\u201d Abraham continued.<\/p>\n

In areas with much less salt, herbivores may struggle to get enough sodium in their diets to survive \u2013 especially the largest species, such as elephants.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo giraffes lick a block of salt while another stands nearby. Sometimes, animals come into conflict with humans in the search for salt, such as on fertilised fields, near borehole water pumps, or on salted roads – Credit: Getty images<\/p>\n

But the study also suggested that low salt availability could put these animals at risk in other ways, by forcing them to engage in risky behaviours for the sake of salt.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like humans, animals have a specific taste for salt and will go to great lengths to satisfy their salt cravings when they are running short,\u201d said Abraham. \u201cFrom gorillas chewing on salty wood stumps in Uganda to elephants mining salt from the insides of caves in Kenya \u2013 animals are inventive when it comes to getting enough salt.\u201d<\/p>\n

These salt-seeking behaviours can make the animals vulnerable by putting them into the paths of predators.<\/p>\n

Conversely, in the saltiest environments, large herbivores need a lot of water to flush the mineral out of their system, which Abraham said could also limit their numbers.<\/p>\n

For the future, the study concluded that salt should be a consideration for those trying to protect these large herbivores, as human activity and climate change both alter its availability.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Africa\u2019s biggest animals may be rare, in part, because there isn\u2019t enough salt, according to a new study.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-190589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}