Weird News

A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that farmers place in pastures for livestock to lick).

Natural licks are common, and they provide essential elements such as phosphorus and the biometals (sodium, calcium, iron, zinc, and trace elements) required in the springtime for bone, muscle and other growth in deer and other wildlife, such as moose, elephants, tapirs, cattle, woodchucks, domestic sheep, fox squirrels, mountain goats and porcupines.

Such licks are especially important in ecosystems with poor general availability of nutrients. Harsh weather exposes salty mineral deposits that draw animals from miles away for a taste of needed nutrients. It is thought that certain fauna can detect calcium in salt licks.[1]

Overview
Many animals regularly visit mineral licks to consume clay, supplementing their diet with nutrients and minerals. Some animals require the minerals at these sites not for nutrition, but to ward off the effects of secondary compounds that are included in the arsenal of plant defences against herbivory.[2]

The mineral contents of these sites usually contain calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S) phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sodium (Na).[3][4][5][6]
Mineral lick sites play a critical role in the ecology and diversity of organisms that visit these sites, but little is still understood about the dietary benefits.

The paths animals made to natural mineral licks and watering holes became the hunting paths predators and early man used for hunting. It is theorized that these salt and water paths became trails and later roads for early man.[7]

Nonetheless, many studies have identified other uses and nutritional benefits from other micronutrients that exist at these sites, including selenium (Se), cobalt (Co) and/or molybdenum (Mo).[8][9]

In addition to the utilization of mineral licks, many animals suffer from traffic collisions as they gather to lick salts accumulated on road surfaces.
Animals also consume soil (geophagy) to obtain minerals, such as moose from Canada mining for minerals from the root wads of fallen trees.[10][11]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_lick

I recall my rancher father putting out salt blocks (licks) for the cattle.
However, I never questioned Why.

Now we know. Makes sense how its explained in your artucle.
Whether the needed minerals come from a man-made source like the salt block or a natural source found in the wild, like the iron train rails, the purpose is nutrients .

Thanks for posting this.