At 11:10 2000-01-05 -0800, Bill wrote:

>Herbivores will lick salt when they can find it. Does any carnivore seek
>salt, or do they get what they need from meat and blood?

Most animals eat a great deal of mud, probably selected for minerals.
Maybe it is with them and salt (and us) like it with us and sugar.
It is hard to find i nature, so once You find it, You try to fill up
the reservoir. If it is around all the time, You overfill.

>Certainly, excessive salt intake is unwise, but is there any real value
>in use of small amounts of sea salt for its trace mineral content?

Probably

>Have any unspoiled HG groups used added salt?

The Yanomama do not use salt at all. And where should they find it in
the djungle?
Staffan Lindeberg found in his research on the island Kitava, that they
added a little seawater when boiling food (fish and roots mostly), but
still consume only a fraction of the amount of salt we eat in Sweden.

- Hans