Salty Times in the Great Salt Lake

As Prince Tyger and his parents proceeded along their journey into Utah, they saw an intriguing sight.

A coyote was trotting on the shore along the Great Salt Lake, keeping pace with their travels.   Prince Tyger, of course, thought that the coyote was his own special dog and there to provide entertainment uniquely for him!

The family took the causeway across to Antelope Island State Park

where they were especially impressed by the omnipresent and numerous spiders that flourish there.

Spiders or not, Prince Tyger had spotted his favorite element: water.  He never met a drop that he didn't like.  So he settled right in to play in a spot that looked like a VERY big mud puddle.

The Great Salt Lake, however, is not an easy lake for most to love.  It is a remnant of a much larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville that used to cover much of present-day Utah in addition to small portions of Idaho and Nevada during the Great Ice Age - between 32,000 and 14,000 years ago.   The Great Salt Lake has very high salinity, ranging from 5% to 27%  - far saltier than sea water at 3.5%, but less than the Dead Sea at 33.7%.  It is sometimes referred to as "America's Dead Sea."  The lake has no outlet and the rivers and streams that flow into it bring dissolved minerals and salts.  The lake water then evaporates, leaving behind concentrations of minerals and salts in the water and the salt flats.  This excessive salinity might daunt most living creatures, but it didn't bother the Tyger one whit.  He was as happy as he could be, especially considering that he wasn't at peak form.

The lake's high saliinity makes it uninhabitable for all but a few species, which include brine shrimp, brine flies, and several forms of algae.  The brine flies have an estimated population of over one hundred billion and serve as the main source of food for migrating birds.  The brine flies literally carpet the sand, turning it almost black, for as far as the eye can see.

While this is not generally known, the unique species known as "Tyger" also flourishes at the Great Salt Lake!  This little boy was in heaven!

And their Papas also like to get in on the fun.

After all, Papas are just BIG boys.

Sweet Momma H, as so often happens, got delegated the photo-snapping duty.  The Tyger didn't realize that it was practically impossible for him to sink.  He didn't go out into the deep water.  But that was just fine so far as he  - and everyone else - was concerned!