Lake Natron is the one of very few places in the world where these birds breed. The flamingos eat the blue-green algae of the lake and use the salt-islands and the outer edges for breeding. The lake temperature can rise to 120 degrees (F), which makes it far too hot for any other kind of wildlife to live there, but lesser flamingos use the lake as feeding and nesting grounds.
This algae gives the lake a rust-colored appearance from space. The only creatures that are surviving in Lake Natron include a single species of fish, alkaline tilapia ( Alcolapia latilabris), and cyanobacteria, a type of blue-green algae.
Evaporation of the surface creates islands of exposed salt deposits in the lake, some large enough to be recorded on satellite images. The lake is fed by a river and mineral hot springs in the area, but has no outlet, so these waters have nowhere to go but up. The dead animals are preserved in eerie detail, from birds to bats each one has been slowly turned to stone by the waters of Lake Natron.
He picked up animals washed up onto the shore of the lake and placed them in pre-mortem positions for his photographs. Photographer Nick Brandt captured images of birds and other animals killed by the high alkaline content of the lake. The lake, named for the naturally occurring mix of chemicals including soda ash and baking soda in its waters, is so salty, fish can only survive along the edges where the saline content is somewhat lower. Nonetheless, flamingos are still at high risk staying amidst Lake Natron’s fatal waters.Birds are being turned to stone by the waters of Lake Natron in Tanzania, Africa. They only come around seasonally, when salt sediments accumulate all over the lake creating islands on which the birds can safely nest. These pink flamingos live on the abundant supply of cyanobacteria, and the lake’s isolated location and toxicity to predators make it the perfect place for them to build their nests. However, this deadly lake is the only place in Eastern Africa where three quarters of the world’s Lesser Flamingo population breeds. The only creatures that survive in its depths are the alkaline tilapia (Alcolapia latilabris) and cyanobacteria (Spirulina), which gives its pinkish red pigmentation. The volcanic sediments in the lake originate from the nearby Great Rift Valley, and water temperature reaches up to 60 degrees Celsius. With an alkalinity between pH 9 and pH 10, the waters of Lake Natron is highly corrosive. The calcified stone corpses of its victims washed out by the lakefront are a horrific thing to behold. Its lethal waters are only 3 meters deep, but it’s capable of eating out the life of any warm-blooded thing that immerses itself in its depths. No right-minded animal would dare step into Lake Natron of Tanzania.
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