Blue sheep, also known as bharal, make defying gravity look easy.
If you ever wanted to see one of the magnificent creatures in person, you’d likely have to make a trip all the way around the world to countries like India, China, Myanmar and Nepal. That’s where bharal reside in the wild, as they are considered a caprine that’s native to the high Himalayas.
They are also called blue sheep because of the bluish-grey color that typically decorates their coats. It might seem like an oddly specific hue, but the combination of the blue and the grey actually makes for great camouflage for where they live. They’re able to blend right in with the rocks and cliffs they normally inhabit.
And they use that camouflage to their advantage, as one of their go-to defensive mechanisms is to… stand as still as possible. Not super impressive, right? Though it might not be the flashiest way to avoid predators, it tends to work like a charm. Blue sheep can be jumping from cliff to cliff one second, then finding a spot to blend in the next.
Some might even call them “hide and seek champions.”
Though I say that, the bharal weren’t utilizing their typical defense mechanism in the viral video below. They were instead showing off their high speed and ability to navigate incredibly steep and treacherous terrain. The species are very well known as high elevation climbers. If you need specifics, they can be found living as high as 19,000 feet.
There’s a good chance that this group is running from something, and though it’s unclear what might be chasing them, the snow leopard is famously known to feast on blue sheep. It’s strange to see the whole herd running like this, since when they sense an intruder, they first attempt to stay perfectly still in an attempt to go unnoticed. Only when they feel threatened – and seen – do they burst forth and leave a cloud of dust in their wake.
In this video, which is believed to be taken near Qinghai, China, the bharal take to a cliff side that might as well be a 90-degree slope. You’d think they would slow down a bit to ensure their safety, but NOPE. These fearless creatures maintained a full-sprint speed as they traversed the treacherous terrain.
And staying near cliffs like these are actually by design. It’s very normal for blue sheep (which are actually more closely related to goats when you look at their DNA) to keep an escape route like this one close by. They are as sure-footed… or sure-hooved as they come, and know that they can use their climbing ability as an advantage when it comes time to flee from predators.
It’s wild to watch them in action, and rarely ever do we get as good of a video as this one that’s linked below. These blue sheep put on a mountain climbing masterclass, as the caption for the footage explained:
