llamas guarding lapwings.

[rossy]

did anybody else see bbc northwest tonight last night ? the rspb are doing a trial by putting 2 llamas in fields of where lapwings nest, it showed footage of a fox taking all 4 eggs at night,as lapwings are an easy target ,with like so many of the ground nesting birds, they have come up with the idea, as this has been tried in another country, to which i didnt catch the name of,turns out llamas dont like dogs and are really good at guarding there patch, rossy. click on bbc north west tonight llamas guarding lapwings, llamas act as bouncers, hope that helps if you want the full story.

[Cowgirl]

Didn't see it Rossy (in the North East!) but I have heard of people putting llamas in with chickens to guard against foxes, apparently they're a really good guard dog..er..goat..er..llama, what family do they belong to anyway, sheep?

[The Woodman]

Rather than type it out Cowgirl, I've lifted some text from Wiki.

They have the rather charming scientific name of Lama glama.

Although early writers compared llamas to sheep, their similarity to the camel was soon recognized. They were included in the genus Camelus along with alpaca in the Systema Naturae (1758) of Linnaeus.[3] They were, however, separated by Cuvier in 1800 under the name of llama along with the guanaco.[citation needed] Alpacas and vicuñas are in genus Vicugna. The genera Lama and Vicugna are, with the two species of true camels, the sole existing representatives of a very distinct section of the Artiodactyla or even-toed ungulates, called Tylopoda, or "bump-footed," from the peculiar bumps on the soles of their feet. The Tylopoda consists of a single family, the Camelidae, and shares the order Artiodactyla with the Suina (pigs), the Tragulina (chevrotains), the Pecora (ruminants), and the Cetancodonta (hippos and cetaceans, which belong to Artiodactyla from a cladistic if not traditional standpoint). The Tylopoda have more or less affinity to each of the sister taxa, standing in some respects in a middle position between them, sharing some characteristics from each, but in others showing special modifications not found in any of the other taxa.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Camelidae

Genus: Lama

Species: L. glama

Binomial name
Lama glama
(Linnaeus, 1758)

[Cowgirl]

Thanks Woodman, what a wonderful name Lama glama

Should have realised camel, they spit like them duh!

[Jonathan]

I presume it's the two at Marshside:

The RSPB: Llama drama

I don't think the experiment has been very succcesful, I've heard nesting lapwing numbers were down this year.

I always find a flat shooting .223 works quite well . . .

Yes Woodman, Lama glama is a brilliant name!

Cheers
Jonathan

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I don't think the experiment has been very successful, I've heard nesting lapwing numbers were down this year.

Jonathan

As a result of marauding Llamas and foxes trampling Lapwing eggs??!