MS “Brave Goats Scale Near-Vertical Barrier at Italian Lake to Access Mineral-Rich Stones” MS

Using moves that would make any rock climber jealous, these death-defying goats expertly make their way up an almost vertical dam.

Photographer Paolo Seimandi, 34, captured the amusing moment the herd of alpine ibexes decided to scale the brick wall in the Gran Paradiso National Park in Northern Italy.

And they aren’t doing it just to show off – it is thought the goats are actually grazing, licking the stones for their salts and minerals.

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Head for heights: These incredible pictures show the moment a herd of sure-footed mountain goats climbed up an almost vertical dam in search of salt

Determined: Photographer Paolo Seimandi, 34, captured the stunning moment a herd of alpine ibexes climbed up a dam in Gran Paradiso National Park in Northern Italy

The gravity-defying goats typically live in very steep and rocky terrain at altitudes of up to to 4,600m and have no fear of falling whether climbing up or down the dam wall.

In the past the alpine ibex was just restricted to the Gran Paradiso National Park and the Maurienne Valley in the French Alps, but in recent years they have been spotted in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as well as Bulgaria and Slovenia.

For most of the year, males and females occupy different habitats – females tend to stick to steep terrain and males use lowland meadows.

But when snow appears both sexes, which are strictly herbivorous, move to steep rocky slopes to avoid the snow.

Skilled: The gravity-defying goats typically live in very steep and rocky terrain at altitudes of up to to 4,600m and have no fear of falling whether climbing up or down the dam wall

The goats aren’t doing it to show off – it is thought the goats are actually grazing, licking the stones for their salts and minerals