How Mangrove Trees Drink Salty Water and Get Rid of Salt - Explained for 8-Year-Olds

Mangrove trees live in places where the water is very salty, like near the ocean. You might wonder how they manage to drink this salty water without getting sick.

Here’s how they do it, step by step:

• Drinking Salty Water: Mangrove trees use their roots like straws to suck up water from the soil. But this water has lots of salt in it, which is usually bad for most plants.
• Saving The Good Part: Inside the mangrove's roots and stems, special filters help take the dirty salt out of the water and keep the clean water for the tree to use.
• Storing The Salt: The trees put the extra salt into their leaves. This way, the salt is gathered in safe places away from the main parts of the tree.
• Getting Rid of The Salt: When the leaves get too salty, the tree just drops them. The fallen leaves take the salt away, keeping the tree healthy and happy.

So, by moving the salt into leaves and dropping those leaves, mangrove trees make sure they can live well in salty water!