Maremma dogs are self-reliant; they can be left to defend a patch of land for long periods of time with a supply of food and water that they know not to wolf down right away. During the summer, when foxes pose the greatest danger to Middle Island’s penguins because of tidal patterns that form sandbars, the dogs can stay on the island for several days in a row, watching over the birds from a raised walkway.
Training them for the job involves introducing them to the penguin’s distinct odor. “Penguins don’t smell particularly nice,” said Peter Abbott, manager of tourism services for the Warrnambool City Council. “They look cute and cuddly, but they smell like dead fish.” Gradually, the dogs are taught to treat the penguins like any other kind of livestock, to be defended and not harmed....
November 5, 2015
Dogs protecting penguins from foxes.
On Middle Island, in Australia:
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21 comments:
"The farm’s first Maremma, Ben, took quickly to his new task, scaring one of the intruders away from the farm and into a road. “It got squashed,” Mr. Marsh said. “It was fox pizza.”"
Reminded me of this. New Zealand has a huge problem with introduced species too. Rabbits are perhaps the worst.
They should use sheepdogs.
The worst invasive species in Australia is the cat.
Some people down the road have the same kind of dog to guard their alpacas. They called them something like "Italian Mountain Guard Dog".
@rh The linked article is "Australia Deploys Sheepdogs to Help a Penguin Colony Back From the Brink."
Ann Althouse said...
@rh The linked article is "Australia Deploys Sheepdogs to Help a Penguin Colony Back From the Brink."
Two basic kinds of sheep-dogs: the type like these, that mostly hang out with the sheep - or penguins - waiting for intruders, and the herding dogs. The first type usually look somewhat like sheep (long white fur) and are big enough to scare wolves and such, the second are smaller, fast and maneuverable, and often have exaggerated predator faces to help them scare the sheep. We have one of the 2nd; black fur with contrasting light brown wolfy-looking, intense eyes.
Two basic kinds of sheep-dogs, etc.:
Yep. I herd sheep with my border collies (hence my moniker and avatar): the second type you describe. They aren't guard dogs. They are predators with all the behavioral traits a wolf except the need to make the kill, which is mostly bred out of them. In sheepherding trials they perform long curving outruns to gather, lift and fetch the sheep to you. You are the alpha in their pack and you get make the kill. But you don't kill the sheep, of course, instead you have your dogs drive them through an obstacle course and move them into a pen. They use wolve/predator techniques (creep and slink) and their formidable "eye" (the extremely intense border collie stare) to accomplish these tasks. But ideally they refrain from behaviors that frighten the sheep; in fact they want to reassure and calm the animals. It's a balancing act. Make them do your (i.e. the border collie's) bidding, and go where your alpha wants them to go; but without spooking the sheep. The sheep should feel firmly managed, not hunted and at threat. It's amazing, how those dogs work.
Out west ranchers use border collies for herding the flocks and big Grand Pyrenees dogs for guarding them. The border collies work closely with the sheep (or cattle) while the Grand Pyrenees sit off some distance, perhaps on a hill or a ridge, and keep watch. They are brave and fiercely protective of the flocks. If they spot an approaching bear (grizzly or black), mountain lion, wildcat, wolf, whatever, they will make a lot of noise and do a lot posturing to drive it off; and if the predator doesn't leave, they will attack it.
Foxes and Trumps!
I guess that makes us the voting penguins.
In reference to Roughcast above, I use my border collies to herd sheep and geese as well. We herders have long known of the power of the Great Pyrenees to protect our flocks. Here in the West, it is from coyotes but the GP's desire to protect its flock can be used to protect other livestock as well. It is always funny when the super-smart "big city" folks finally discover what we have known all along.
Roughcoat said...
They are predators with all the behavioral traits a wolf except the need to make the kill, which is mostly bred out of them.
Ours looks a lot like your avatar, but less white, and stockier than a real Border Collie...and he loves killing things (friendly to most dogs but sometimes a bit of a bully). He'll climb trees to get at a cat or squirrel (then usually fall out), dig forever to get a mouse, and he and the other dog killed a raccoon and a beaver (the last took about 20 minutes, and they both came out with bloody bites on their faces). He's an escapee from the Navajo reservation so we don't know his background, but I think he has some terrier or bulldog in him. Hates crows, snakes, cats and tarantulas, but doesn't appear interested in livestock, fortunately, since there are horses all around and sheep about 500 yards down the road. He might've grown up around livestock, dunno.
We had a Great Pyr X Chow years ago that wanted to protect us from other dogs; she'd play with them if we weren't around, and attack them as soon as we appeared. She'd get so mad that she'd foam at the mouth if she saw another dog while walking on a leash, and would sleep outside in the wind at -20F rather than come inside. A beast.
Sheepdogs with a taste for mutton are a problem.
The story of Australia's cane toad is entertaining, now on youtube full length An Unnatural History.
"The worst invasive species in Australia is the cat."
Cats are a terrible problem in England with songbirds.
Of course the feminist movement has been a boon to cats. All those "cat ladies."
Babe!
Ann Althouse said...
The worst invasive species in Australia is the cat.
Oh Professor, surely the worst invasive species in Australia is white men! Without them there would be no other invasive species.
> they will make a lot of noise and do a lot posturing to drive it off; and if the predator doesn't leave, they will attack it.
Sounds like Donald Trump's campaign strategy.
Litte penguins are simply "cooks in dinner suits."
Oh Professor, surely the worst invasive species in Australia is white men! Without them there would be no other invasive species.
One assumes teej is merely trolling, but in case he's not: Read up on dingoes and the demise of Australia's megafauna.
The worst invasive species in Australia is the cat.
Perhaps now, but imported rabbits have done more harm.
“Penguins don’t smell particularly nice,” said Peter Abbott, manager of tourism services for the Warrnambool City Council. “They look cute and cuddly, but they smell like dead fish.”
Evidently their odor is more than skin-deep, or in this case, feather-deep. When Shackleton's men were marooned on Elephant Island they tried eating penguins, which were abundant and easy to catch, but the taste of their flesh was too revolting to be endured.
I once had a bite of roasted merganser, a piscivorous duck. Nasty...
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