Salt licks are used to attract large and small animals.
Salt lick is a mineral deposit used by animals to supplement their nutrition, ensuring that they get enough minerals in their diets. A wide variety of animals, mostly herbivores, use salt to obtain essential nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, sodium and zinc. When a salt lick appears, animals can travel to reach it, so the salt lick becomes a kind of hangout where many wild animals can be observed.
Salt licks can be used to attract deer and other wildlife.
Historically, farmers have provided snacks to cattle, horses, and other herbivores to encourage healthy growth and development. Normally, a rolled salt block is used in these circumstances, and the block can be mounted on a platform so that pets do not consume the dirt on the floor along with the necessary salt. Farm animal salt blocks can also be treated with medication, which can be convenient when someone needs to medicate timid animals or a large group of animals.
Wildlife biologists can use snacks to help them track populations like moose.
Some people also use artificial salt pans to attract wildlife like deer and elk, along with smaller creatures like squirrels. The animals may be attracted solely for the pleasure of humans setting up the salt lick for the purpose of observing or photographing animals around the salt lick, and are also used by hunters to encourage potential prey to frequent an area. . Wildlife biologists can also use salt licks to help them track populations, and wildlife salt licks can also be medicated; deer, for example, can be fed contraceptives to prevent them from proliferating in areas where there are few natural predators.
Artificial wildlife snacks can come in two forms: closed and bagged. Bagged snacks are designed to be buried in holes to create a more realistic snack shape, with the salts and minerals leaching out in humid weather to form a salt deposit that will attract animals. Lick blocks can be installed directly on the ground or mounted on platforms, depending on personal taste.
The universal popularity of snacking on a wide variety of animals illustrates the ways that wildlife naturally seek out the nutrition that is essential to their survival. Salt licks can also provide nutrition to predators, in the form of conveniently placed prey that can be distracted by the salt lick long enough to become a snack.