Where Animals Gather for A Meal

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

This episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast explores two extraordinary animal gatherings driven by the pursuit of food. From alpine ibex scali

Key takeaways

• Alpine ibex climb steep dams not just for salt but also as a predator-avoidance strategy and joint support mechanism.
• The Cingino Dam serves as a critical mineral source despite its danger, with expectant mothers and their young making daily treks.

Main topics

• Animal migration and foraging behavior
• Deep-sea ecosystems and bioluminescence

Notable quotes

The Cingino Dam is the world's least accessible snack bar.

Conclusion

From cliffside dams to sunless ocean depths, animals demonstrate remar

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:04) How far would you go for your favorite meal? Across town for good tacos? Or would you stand in line for hours for a reservation? Maybe you've driven further than you would like to admit for a dish you couldn't stop thinking about. But what about if the meal was in a near-impossible location, like hanging off the sides of a cliff or hiding out at sea a mile underwater? I'd love to ask the animals who make these treks just how bad they wanted their meals. That's probably a question better left for the Dr. Dolittle types. I'm Jerome Campbell, and this is Atlas Obscura. In this episode, we're going to pull back the curtain as much as we can on the going-ons of animals. We're going to visit two different places where animals have curious gatherings and get up to some strange behavior. One is a patch of open ocean that serves as something of a deep sea cafe. The other one, well, you'll need your hiking boots to find and at least half a day to get close enough to see. Here, let me take you in for a closer view. Speaker 1 (1:30) Imagine you're on a hike some 7,000 feet up in the mountains, ringed by jagged peaks. Down in the valley, you see a reservoir, small and still. A flat sheet of blue tucked into the landscape. The only sounds are the wind and the occasional bird. Speaker 1 (1:52) The scene you're seeing is from a remote spot deep within the Antrona Valley, tucked along Italy's northeastern border with Switzerland. You'd need a spyglass or binoculars to make out any distinguishing details. Most of the land is ashen gray, except for a few strange brownish blobs seemingly climbing up the near vertical wall of the dam. It looks like an impossible journey. Curiosity gets the best of you, and you hike down into the valley to get a better view of the creatures making this death-defying journey. They come into view slowly with each distinguishing detail. Speaker 1 (2:34) A creature of rounded horns teeters on the tips of its cloven hooves against an impossible man-made stone face. The beast's blank, wide-set eyes harbor no fear of the some hundred-foot fall below, because the danger pales in comparison to the reward at the end