National Geographic Daily News has published some amazing pictures of fearless goats scaling the Cingino Dam in the Val D’Ossola [Piedmont] .
The Alpine Ibex goats, explains National Geographic quoting the Smithsonian Magazine, have evolved a split hoof with a wider cleft than any other split-hooved species. This, together with the hoof’s hard wall and a soft inside that acts as a “stopper” if gravity causes the animal to lurch forward, allows the breed to attempt death-defying feats such as this one.
In this case, the goats were attracted to the 160-feet-high dam because of its salt-encrusted stones. They apparently lack salt in their diet.
The pictures were taken by the Italian hiker Adriano Migliorati and, when they were circulated on the internet, some emails claimed that the animals were actually bighorn sheep in Wyoming.
The Cingino Dam was built in order to create a reservoir on Lake Cingino.
