On Friday, around 60 ibex were seen wandering across the 50-metre-high Salanfe dam in canton Valais, in search of saltpetre. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The Salanfe dam in Evionnaz, canton Valais, is not only high, at 52 metres: it also has a gradient of 75 degrees. However, the numbers don’t prevent the local ibex from wandering around on the dam, which was inaugurated 75 years ago. In doing so, the animals seem like acrobats who can defy the law of gravity. In reality, a morphological adaptation of their hooves enables them to get a good grip on such steep slopes. “They have two separate toes, with no membrane between them, and under their heel they have a membrane that acts as a suction cup,” says Fabienne Marclay, the caretaker at the local Salanfe inn. Marclay has had a front-row seat for the event for 30 years. “It’s a sight you never get tired of,” she told the Keystone-ATS news agency. A phenomenon in May and June “It’s not an uncommon event ...
