Barragem del Cingino, na
Itália
Conseguem-se observar uns pequenos pontos escuros no muro da barragem? Olhem bem
.....
Chegando mais perto...
E agora, o que se vê?
Vamos aproximar mais...
É
isso mesmo! São os Ibex Europeus, um tipo de cabrito montanhês. Eles gostam de
comer o musgo e lamber o sal que se forma na parede da
barragem. E vocês achavam que já tinham visto de tudo!!!
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Gravity-Defying Goats
Photograph by Adriano Migliorati/Caters News
Using moves that would make any rock climber
jealous, Alpine ibex cling to a near-vertical rock face of a northern Italian dam in summer 2010.
This and other pictures of the goats have been circulating
online recently, particularly in emails claiming the animals are bighorn sheep
on Wyoming's Buffalo Bill Dam, the
rumor-quashing website Snopes
reported in September.
In truth, Adriano Migliorati snapped the pictures at the
160-foot-tall (49-meter-tall) Cingino Dam (see map of the region), the Italian hiker told
National Geographic News via email. The goats are attracted to the dam's
salt-crusted stones, according to the U.K.-based Caters news agency. Grazing
animals don't get enough of the mineral in their vegetarian diets.
It's not far-fetched, though, to think such a scene could be
photographed in the United
States. For example, mountain
goats could scale dams in the U.S. West, according to Jeff
Opperman, senior advisor for sustainable hydropower at the U.S.-based nonprofit the Nature
Conservancy.
Opperman, who called the Cingino pictures "mind-boggling,"
pointed out a picture of a Montana mountain goat doing an "incredibly acrobatic
stretching maneuver to lick salt" in the November National Geographic
magazine (eighth picture in this photo gallery).
"He is wedged up this sheer vertical cliff face, almost doing a yoga
pose with four hooves splayed out there," he said. "It's the same concept [with
the Italian goats]—these animals can overcome what looks like impossible
topography to get what they want."
Opperman cautioned, though, that the Italian dam is rare, in
that its rough masonry provides gaps that act as toeholds. The more common,
smooth-concrete dams—such as Buffalo Bill Dam— would give goats anywhere in the
world trouble, he said.
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Caro confrade Pedro Coimbra!
ResponderEliminarAs fotografias apresentadas nos permitem divagar sobremaneira!!!
Caloroso abraço! Saudações ambientais!
Até breve...
João Paulo de Oliveira
Diadema-SP
Como é que os animais se adaptaram a viver naquele ambiente, não é, Prof João Paulo de Oliveira.
ResponderEliminarAquele abraço
Interessante. Nunca teria imaginado...
ResponderEliminarBolas, gandas bichos malucos... mas então e eles não caem?
ResponderEliminar