Top 7 Unusual Animal Guardians

From about 15,000 years, humans rely on one animal as guardian: the dog. In time, we have created more aggressive, more massive, more dreadful dog breeds for this purpose. But only dogs save our asses?

1.There is the famous legend (and historical fact) of the geese that saved Rome in 300 BC from the attack of the Celts. The sacred geese were located in the temple of Juno, the Roman queen of gods (like the Greek Hera), on the hill of Capitolium. The Celts planned a night attack, and while the trained dogs guarding the Roman troops did not put out a sound when the first Celt warriors infiltrated the Capitolium, the geese made an infernal gaggle that alerted the Romans.

After this curious happening, dogs fell into the disgrace of the Romans, and, as a homage to the saviors of Rome, each year during the Roman festivities a goose was paced on a throne through the whole city, in the acclamations of the crowd, while a crucified dog was worn next to the goose.

The American company "Truck Equipment Incorporated" employed geese more recently, with a high success against the smugglers. In Scotland, geese guard the famous cellars of Dumbarton, where million of hectoliters of whiskey are put to age. Geese are easier to keep than dogs, as they are fed with the remains of the distillation process...

2.In South Africa, ostriches are used for defending the sheep herds... The same role has the Australian ostrich, emu, in Australia. These birds can deliver very powerful kicks to humans and are feared by thieves.

The owner of a deposit of old cars in Lambert, Mississippi, used an ostrich as guardian, and the bird proved more effective than two Doberman dogs!

3.In Uzbekistan, golden eagles can be used for defending sheep herds. These birds are even known to attack and kill wolves in the wild.

4.Reptiles too work as guardians. There may be cases of people whose house or car is avoided because of the presence of an alligator. Snakes are very effective as guardians, even those which are not venomous, due to the innate fear of the humans at their sight.

Years ago, the Stockholm Zoo employed a 4 m (13 ft) long king cobra as night guardian. A warning announcement was installed at the entrance of the Zoo and all the animal thefts stopped.

The protection of a sapphire, the third in the world, having 393 carats and evaluated to 11 million pounds, was more effectively made at a London exhibition with a cobra than with electronic systems. Pythons and boas are also employed in many cases for night guard.

5.You may have heard about cases of lions used as guardians. There are cases of burglars blocked by lion-guardians inside the building where they attempted to make the burglary.

6.In western US, South American llamas are employed with success against coyotes. The llamas deliver kicks with their hooves and blows with the head. Still, they cannot defend the herd against bears. Donkeys too can protect the herds against smaller predators. The wool coming from sheep protected through methods "friendly to predators" comes more expensive...

7.In South America, screamers, huge birds with over 2 m (6.6 ft) in wingspan and related to ducks and geese, are tamed by locals and used for defending the herds against smaller predators.



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