PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME NATURAL LICKS USED BY BIG GAME
ANIMALS IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
L. C. CHAMBERLIN, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, District Office,
Thunder Bay, Ontario
H. R. TIMMERMANN, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Regional Office,
Thunder Bay, Ontario
B. SNIDER, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, District Office, Terrace
Bay, Ontario
F. DIEKEN, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Laboratory Services Branch,
Rexdale, Ontario
B. LOESCHER, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Laboratory Services Branch,
Rexdale, Ontario
D. FRASER, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Research
Branch, Maple, Ontario
Ab~,;t"-a.e.tr
Examinations were made of 13 "mineral licks" in northern Ontario
known to have been frequented by moose
(Odoeoiteu~
vi,,-ginia.nu~),
(Atee~
a.tee~)
or white-tailed deer
and samples of water and soil were collected.
All the licks consisted of mud with pools or puddles, and probably all
were fed by springs.
Many were found at the base of ridges and many
contained grey clay.
Increased concentration of sodium was the most
uniform characteristic of the water, but large amounts of calcium,
potassium, and other elements were common.
reflected in the soil samples.
The high levels were not
The influence of sampling methods on studies
of mineral licks is discussed.
Wild ungulates make extensive use of naturally occurring "mineral
licks" in many parts of the world and a variety of hypotheses have been
proposed to explain this striking attraction.
In many studies it has been
assumed or concluded that the use of licks indicates a dietary deficiency
of some particular nutrient which is present in unusually high concentrations
in the lick material.
Single elements which have been mentioned in this
respect include sodium (Dalke et al. 1965, Weeks and Kirkpatrick 1976) and
sulphur (Hanson and Jones 1976).
Chemical analysis commonly shows,
however, that many licks contain high levels of a variety of nutrients with
no single element common to all licks in an area (eg. Peterson 1953, Wright
200
1956).
Faced with such results, Cowan and Brink (1949) suggested that trace
elements might be involved.
Many studies of ungulate licks have suffered from 2 difficulties.
some studies only a small number of elements have been analyzed.
In
If the
results fail to show a single element in all licks tested, the possibility
remains that some other essential element accounts for the lick's
attractiveness.
In other studies lick samples have not been compared to
nearby "control" samples to indicate whether the chemical composition of the
water or soil in the lick does differ significantly from the surroundings.
These problems make it difficult to interpret results.
Ungulate licks in Ontario have received only scant attention
(Peterson 1955).
Accordingly, the present paper documents, as part of a more
wide-ranging study, some preliminary observations and results of chemical
analysis of water and soil from 13 licks in 3 areas of Ontario.
In each
case the water analysis included all the cations known to be essential for
ruminants, together with the sulfate ion in view of the recent hypothesis
of Hanson and Jones (1976).
Samples of nonlick material from the same areas
were also studied.
We are grateful to Messrs. J. McNicol and R. Gollat for valuable
assistance in the field, and to J. Scott, T. Pitts, and E. Reardon for
useful discussion and analytic services.
METHODS
Five of the 13 licks were located in the Lake Nipigon area (Fig. 1,2),
7 on the islands of Lake Superior (Fig. 3), and 1 in Thackeray Township in
northeastern Ontario between Lake Abitibi and the town of Kirkland Lake.
Each lick was visited once during June or July of 1976.
Notes were
made on the appearance, physical surroundings, and evidence of use by
moose or white-tailed deer at the site.
Water in the lick was collected in
an acid-washed plastic bottle and preserved with 2 ml nitric acid for
analyses of trace metallic elements, and in a glass bottle for the remaining
analyses.
The water was taken from standing pools in the lick or directly
201
Lake
Nipigon
Licks
Fig. 1.
Location of the three IImineral lick" areas.
Fig. 2. Location of the five lick sites in the Lake Nipigon area.
were taken from only one of the two McIntyre Bay licks.
Samples
®
Malinski Lick
Ignace Island Lick
Fig. 3.
Location of the seven lick sites on the Lake Superior islands.
from the spring source if it could be found.
In most cases control
samples were collected from a nearby stream or pool which did not appear
to be attracting cervids.
Water analysis was done using standard laboratory techniques (Ontario
Ministry of the Environment 1976).
Elements Na, K, Ca, and Mg were analyzed
by atomic absorption, sulfate by an automated colorimetric method using
methylthymol blue, total Kjeldahl nitrogen and total phosphorus by automated
colorimetric techniques using the indophenol blue method, and the molybdenum
blue method using stannous chloride.
Elements Co, Cu, Mn, Zn, Fe, and Mo
were analyzed by atomic absorption after pre-concentration with background
correction for Zn and Co.
Selenium was analyzed by hydride generation,
flameless atomic absorption.
For Lake Nipigon and some other sites, samples of soil were collected
from well-trampled parts of the lick and from nearby "control" locations
which did not appear to attract wildlife.
Samples were air dried and
analyzed by the Mineral Resources Branch of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Soil analysis for Fe, Mg, Ca, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Co was accomplished by atomic
absorption after acid digestion or fusion.
The elements Na and K were
determined by flame emission, P by a colorimetric method, and Mo by a
non flame method; all after acid digestion.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Description of the Licks
2
The Lake Superior Island licks varied from a few m to several 10's
2
of m in size.
or pools.
All consisted of mud with standing water in small puddles
Slow-seeping springs were believed to be present in all cases
but were actually located for only 4 of the 7 sites.
Snider's lick was also
fed by a small stream running through the lick area.
Several of the areas
had scattered head-sized boulders partly exposed above the mud, and supported
almost no vegetation.
The mud was grey clay in some cases and peat or silt
in others.
205
Four of the licks were located at the base of ridges.
In 3 instances
the ridge was a lineament thought to represent a boundary between individual
lava flows, and in 1 case was a gabbro dyke (Giguere 1975).
The licks were characterized by well-worn game trails leading to them
and by many ungulate tracks in the muddy areas.
and Snider's) had a definite barnyard odor.
All but 2 (Wilson North
In addition a very faint
sulphide odor could be detected in the water of the Wilson Island South and
Molinski licks.
Historical observations of ungulate use of Wilson and Copper Island
licks have been documented by Snider (1975).
At present Wilson, Copper,
and Channel Islands are believed inhabited by white-tailed deer, and St.
Ignace and Simpson Islands mainly by moose.
All but the Channel Island lick are underlain by diabase sills and
flows of the Osler Group (intrusive contact) subdivision of Late Precambrian
(Keweenawan) bedrock.
The Channel Island lick is underlain by sandstone of
the Sibley Group (intrusive contact) subdivision of Late Precambrian
(Keweenawan) bedrock (Ontario Dept. of Mines 1973).
The material overlying the bedrock in the area of the Wilson, Copper,
and Channel Island licks is silty to sandy till (ground moraine) and sand
(lacustrine deposits), the Simpson Island lick silty to sandy till (ground
moraine) and varved or massive clay and silt (lacustrine deposits), and the
St. Ignace Island lick bare bedrock eroded by lake action and silty to
sandy till (ground moraine)
(Ontario Dept. of Lands and Forests 1965).
The 5 Lake Nipigon licks had been known sites of ungulate activity
in the past, but in 1976 the Shakespeare Island lick no longer appeared to
be attracting wildlife.
The other licks all had the characteristic
"barnyard" appearance with numerous tracks and well-used trails leading to
the site.
All Lake Nipigon licks were characterized by grey clay in their
actively-used muddy areas, and all except the McIntyre Bay lick were
surrounded and interspersed by grasses and sedges.
Three were associated
with slopes or ridges and 2 were in level swamp areas.
206
As in the Lake
Superior Island locations, the licks were essentially muddy areas with
small pools of standing water, occasionally with exposed boulders.
A small
stream flowed through the Shakespeare Island lick.
All Lake Nipigon lick sites are underlain by Late Precambrian
(Keweenawan) bedrock.
However, the type associated with the Three Mount
Bay lick is a diabase (dikes and sheets) of the Mafic Igneous (contact
intermediate) subdivision, that associated with the McIntyre Bay licks is
unsubdivided material of the Sibley Group (intrusive contact), and that
associated with the island licks is a diabase of the Intrusive Igneous
subdivision (Ontario Dept. of Mines 1966, 1973).
The material overlying the bedrock at all Lake Nipigon lick sites is
silty to sandy till (ground moraine) and varved or massive clay and silt
(lacustrine deposits)
(Ontario Dept. of Lands and Forests 1965).
The Thackeray lick in northeastern Ontario consists of 2 connected
ponds with grey clay bottom surrounded by grasses and sedges.
Both ponds
are fed by a spring-fed stream plus numerous small intermittent springs
located throughout the pond areas, and by an occasional massive up-welling
of water within the ponds.
The surrounding topography is rolling to flat.
Extensive use of the lick is made by moose as indicated by numerous
heavily-used game trails and the remains of 15 to 20 moose in the immediate
area of the ponds.
Over the years many moose have been observed in the
ponds.
The lick area is underlain by dacite, andesite, and basalt of the
Intermediate and Mafic Metavolcanics (formerly classified as Keewatin)
subdivision of early Precambrian bedrock.
A north-south fault is located
approximately 400 m to the west.
The material overlying the bedrock in the lick area is varved clay
of the Barlow-Ojibway deposits laid down during Pleistocene and recent times.
Adjacent (within 2 km) are an esker complex and sand and gravel deposits
(predominantly glacio-fluvial deposits)
207
(Chamberlin 1975).
Chemical Analysis
Chemical analysis of the water samples is summarized in Table 1.
Table 2 shows the mean concentration of the various substances in the lick
and control samples, excluding the Shakespeare Island lick sample because
the site no longer appeared to be used by animals, and excluding the
Murchison control, Thackeray lick, and Snider's lick samples because of
suspected difficulties in sampling as discussed below.
Results from the analysis of soil samples from Lake Nipigon sites are
summarized in Table 3.
DISCUSSION
Results of the water analysis must be interpreted with caution.
Recent observations (Fraser, Unpublished) indicate that moose and deer
detect even tiny springs in a large lick site and actively use the spring
water while largely ignoring pools of standing water elsewhere in the lick
area.
In the present study, water was collected from various points in
each lick site not just from the spring source.
This may have caused
particular problems with the Thackeray, Snider's, and Shakespeare Island
samples.
Since a stream ran through the lick area in all these cases, it
seems likely that the lick sample was greatly diluted with ordinary stream
water.
In addition the Murchison Island control sample, unlike the other
control samples which were collected from moving water, was taken from a
pool of standing water near the lick.
Its high mineral content suggests
that it may have contained some lick water but in insufficient concentration
to draw animals away from the main source.
These 3 samples were therefore
omitted from most of the numerical analysis.
Similar difficulties may have affected a Quebec study reported by
Bouchard (1970).
High levels of Na were found for all 3 licks in which the
spring source was conspicuous but in the remaining 16 cases, with no
obvious focus for collection of water, the samples had no unusual mineral
composition.
208
Table 1.
Chemical composition (ppm) of water from the lick and control sites.
N
P
Lick samples
S04
Na
K
Ca
Mg
Co
Cu
Mn
Zn
Fe
Mo
Se
Kelvin Island
3.6
0.44
14.0
62.0
5.1
45.0
9.0
<0.04
0.05
0.55
0.14
74.0
<0.01
0.002
Murchison Is.
9.2
2.2
40.0
110.0
13.0
340.0
30.0
<0.04
0.06
2.2
0.11
65.0
0.02
<0.001
<0.001
7.0
1.1
23.0
170.0
10.0
27.0
2.5
<0.02
0.06
0.55
0.08
39.0
0.02
McIntyre Bay
15.0
6.1
15.0
540.0
7.5
2740.0
50.0
<0.04
0.14
3.4
0.08
74.0
0.01
0.01
Shakespeare Is.
18.0
1.8
42.0
3.0
7.1
34.0
11.0
0.05
1.4
1.8
0.35
58.0
0.02
<0.001
Three Mt. Bay
Wilson Is. South
2.6
0.6
11.0
44.0
1.5
12.0
2.0
0.02
0.02
0.16
0.03
16.0
0.01
0.004
Wilson Is. North
7.2
1.1
11.0
23.0
3.3
12.0
3.0
<0.02
0.02
0.42
0.02
35.0
0.01
<0.001
<0.01
5.2
0.02
<0.001
Copper Island
Channel Is.
st. Ignace Is.
6.2
0.20
10.0
12.0
8.1
6.0
1.5
<0.02
0.02
0.05
45.0
0.04
11.0
54.0
11.0
24.0
4.5
<0.02
0.03
0.4
0.8
0.04
10.0
120.0
2.8
104.0
7.5
<0.01
0.02
0.03
17.0
0.01
0.005
0.07
<0.01
2.7
<0.01
<0.001
<0.001
IV
Molinski
15.0
8.0
46.0
11.0
10.0
2.5
0.01
0.03
0.21
0.02
12.0
0.01
~
Snider's
7.2
1.1
10.0
4.0
0.7
7.0
2.5
<0.02
0.03
0.45
0.02
17.0
<0.01
<0.1
0.02
10.0
2.0
1.4
27.0
7.6
<0.002
0.007
0.028
0.006
1.7
<0.002
<0.001
Kelvin Island
0.8
0.04
8.0
3.0
0.4
16.0
1.0
<0.01
<0.01
0.04
0.03
1.2
0.0
<0.001
Murchinson Is.
7.2
0.08
18.0
27.0
3.3
308.0
Three Mt. Bay
0.2
0.04
8.0
4.0
0.7
17.0
13.0
2.0
0.04
a
0.12
a
2.4
a
McIntyre Bay
0.4
0.08
4.0
2.0
0.3
25.0
5.0
a
a
a
0.25
a
a
76.0
a
a
0.02
a
a
<0.001
<0.001
a
Shakespeare Is.
1.4
0.2
17.0
2.0
2.2
17.0
1.0
0.01
0.03
0.29
<0.01
9.0
<0.01
Wilson Is. South
0.2
0.08
10.0
1.0
<0.1
8.0
3.0
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
0.28
Wilson Is. North
0.2
0.08
10.0
3.0
0.2
10.0
1.5
<0.01
<0.01
0.01
<0.01
Malinski Creek
0.6
<0.02
8.0
3.0
0.5
13.0
0.5
<0.01
<0.01
<0.01
<0.02
Thackeray streamb
0.2
<0.02
9.0
2.0
0.7
26.0
5.2
<0.002
Thackerayb
0.56
0.004
Control samples
a
Sample contaminated before analysis.
b
Median of 3 samples.
0.006
0.022
0.012
0.01
0.01
0.002
1.4
<0.01
<0.001
0.22
<0.01
<0.001
0.058
<0.002
<0.001
Table 2. Mean values (ppm) for the chemical composition of lick and control water samples, with the ratio of lick mean
to control mean for each element or ion.
N
a
Mean lick sarnple
b
Mean control sample
Ratio
P
S04
Na
11.52
1.24
15.30
118.10
8.68
0.50
0.06
9.25
2.50
0.63
23.0
20.7
1.7
N
6a
b
Omitting Shakespeare, Thackeray, Snider.
Omitting Murchison.
K
47.2
13.8
Ca
332.0
Mg
11.25
Co
Cu
Mn
Zn
Fe
0.01
0.04
0.80
0.05
33.99
16.50
2.40
0.005
0.01
0.06
0.01
2.03
20.1
4.7
2.0
4.0
3.3
5.0
16.7
Mo
0.01
Se
0.002
0.005
0.005
2.0
0.4
Table 3.
Analysis of soil samples from the 5 Lah:e Nipigon area sites.
As Epm
As percent
NaO
K2 0
CaD
MgO
Murchison Is. lick
1.83
1.86
12.3
Murchison Is. control
1.78
1. 95
12.5
Kelvin Is. lick
1.54
2.12
Kelvin Is. control
1. 97
1. 93
Shakespeare Is. lick
1.86
Shakespeare Is. control
2.08
McIntyre Bay lick
2.13
1.33
13.5
McIntyre Bay control
2.24
1.06
7.5
Three Mt. Bay
li~k
Fe203
P2 0 5
Mn
CU
Zn
Co
4.00
3.60
0.10
4.10
4.00
0.10
530
22
52
10
530
26
61
13
3.60
2.30
4.80
0.05
540
3.50
2.30
5.80
0.11
1070
31
75
16
34
108
24
2.22
3.20
2.90
6.70
0.10
860
1. 62
5.40
4.20
8.70
0.10
1070
146
146
26
260
120
28
7.40
5.00
0.11
590
45
42
16
6.10
6.20
0.12
750
39
69
21
2.54
1. 52
7.40
3.80
4.20
0.10
520
22
40
14
Three Mt. Bay control
2.40
1. 52
5.30
3.30
5.30
0.08
830
28
59
17
Mean lick
1.98
1.81
8.00
4.08
4.86
0.09
608
53
71
16
Mean control
2.09
1.61
6.84
4.00
6.00
0.10
854
77
83
20
211
Mo
<1
<1
<1
The remaining lick samples show striking differences from control
samples for many of the ions.
However, subsequent study (Fraser,
Unpublished) has shown that in muddy samples of water, much of the N, P,
Fe, and trace metals can be held on the suspended solid matter.
Therefore,
the quantity of these substances present probably depended in part on the
muddiness of the water.
A study using filtered samples will be required to
investigate genuine differences between lick and control samples for these
elements.
Among the remaining ions, major differences between lick and control
samples were seen for Na, Ca, and K.
Concentration of Na in lick samples
ranged from 4.8 to 216.0 times greater than the average of the control
samples.
For Ca and K the ranges were 0.6 to 166.1 and 2.4 to 20.6
respectively.
In general the differences between lick and control samples
were greatest in the case of Na.
Differences in sulfate concentration were
generally small.
In view of the large number of differences between lick and control
samples, preference trials will presumably be needed to determine whether
any single element is the basis of the lick's attraction.
Stockstad et al.
In such a study,
(1953) found that only Na compounds were consistently
attractive to the animals in their study area although local natural licks
had high levels of a number of elements.
Possible contamination of the samples by urine from the animals was
considered, but the N content of the lick water and its probable relation
to the muddiness of the sample does not suggest that this occurred.
Despite large differences between lick and control samples of water,
the soil samples showed little effect.
results.
Previous stUdies have had similar
Knight and Mudge (1967:295) reported "erratic differences"
between rock samples taken in lick and nonlick sites, but found high levels
of Na in all 3 of their lick water samples.
In a New Brunswick study,
qualitative analysis showed no substantial differences between lick and
control samples of soil, but there was large variation in the mineral
212
composition of lick water, including high levels of Na in most of the
samples (Wright 1956).
Although serving to describe some features of the 13 licks, this
study does not give conclusive evidence of a single factor which attracts
moose and deer.
The water was rich in Na in all 10 of the actively-used
licks for which substantial dilution of the sample was not suspected.
However, there were many other differences between lick and control samples.
Many licks were rich in Ca and K, and high levels of dissolved N, P, Fe,
and trace metals cannot be ruled out.
Even the clay soil, which was found
in a number of lick sites, might act as an attraction: in some European
licks, ingestion of clay is thought to aid digestion (Bubenik, personal
communication).
Furthermore, although Na may be the attracting element,
high levels of other elements may also be of benefit to the animals.
In future studies of spring-based licks, samples should be collected
directly from the spring source or in some other way which parallels
ingestion by the animals as determined by behavioral observation, and
comparisons should include filtered and unfiltered water.
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Map S265.
213
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______________ • 1955. North American moose.
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N. Am. Wildl. Conf. 18:247-258.
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214
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