Animals turned to stone

Amazing pics.

Cool!

I agree cool in an odd way.

I saw these photos recently in a newspaper and there’s just something about them that doesn’t ring true.

This appears to be a flamingo and the caption beneath it says :

There’s a deceptively still body of water in Tanzania with a deadly secret—it turns any animal it touches to stone.

Well the lake is Lake Natron which happens to be where the Lesser Flamingos breed, so it clearly doesn’t turn any animal it touches to stone.

As this photo of Lesser Flamingos in Lake Natron shows :

http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/casework/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-228219

I don’t doubt that the lake’s high mineral content might calcify animal corpses that fall into it at the edge and are repeatedly dried out so that layers slowly build up, but anything that touches it turning into stone sounds like over-dramatic fanciful nonsense to me.

I also don’t buy this :

….it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake.

I’ve heard that sort of claim before, the world is full of lakes and birds don’t make a habit of crashing into them.

I don’t doubt that the lake’s high mineral content might calcify animal corpses that fall into it at the edge and are repeatedly dried out so that layers slowly build up, but anything that touches it turning into stone sounds like over-dramatic fanciful nonsense to me.

As the article explains, the first part of your comment is what happens. The photographer says that he found the corpses on the edge of the lake and posed them in seemingly natural poses to give the photos a surreal style.

I agree that the title of the article is a little misleading, but it does explain.

I’ve heard that sort of claim before, the world is full of lakes and birds don’t make a habit of crashing into them.

The surface of most lakes is broken up by waves. I can believe that if the surface is so still that it nearly perfectly reflects the sky, it is feasible that birds could become disorientated.

The surface of most lakes is broken up by waves.

It’s wind that breaks the water surface of lakes 😉

Unless there’s no wind at all above Lake Natron it won’t have an unbroken surface. I’ve never been to Lake Natron so don’t know if it’s situated in a windless environment, but google images suggests not. It certainly doesn’t look like a mirror.

The photographer does say that no one really knows what happens and the suggestion of them being disorientated is a theory. In the right circumstances I can see it happening, but it’s certainly not a definitive answer.

Fair enough, but flamingos tend to be able to deal with ‘crashing’ into lakes. Specially in Lake Natron where they breed 🙂

Maybe it died of old age

Maybe it just lost the will to live after arguing the toss on here.

I think dying of old age is much more likely mikey.

Although “Any Animal That Touches This Lethal Lake Turns to Stone” sounds far more interesting. So let’s just stick with that after all 8)

Speaking of otherworldly photographs, here’s a favourite of mine.. (not taken by me though I hasten to add)

Such an amazing photograph.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/photographer-rick-brandt-lake-natron-131003.htm

I think people are taking the whole “turned to stone” thing a bit too literally.

Recommend a tour of Iceland for otherworldliness. Fond memories of days before children…sighhhhh
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/pic/?doc_id=2410&doctype=journal&o=1&page=72&size=large&v=4I

Don’t seem to be many ripples on the lake in the photo of the fossilised flamingo.

There are instances of skid plane crashes on lakes where the smooth surface disorientates pilots (and also potentially apocraphyl tales of skid planes with missing nonessential instrumentation that have been jettisoned to create ripples on a smooth lake)