Cheeky jackdaws are helping themselves to a warm camel hair coat at Longleat this spring.
The annual moult of the Wiltshire Safari Park’s Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) provides the perfect opportunity for the enterprising corvids to feather their own nests.
The camels come from one of the harshest environments on earth, with freezing winters and blistering summers, so their incredibly thick winter coat is shed every spring.
The cunning birds are happy to help speed up the process and the camels don’t seem to mind.
Keeper Ian Turner captured the moment on camera as the birds took the up-market woolly lining to create the chic fur lined nests.
Unlike their cousins the dromedaries, Bactrian camels have two humps and are covered in thick fur to protect themselves from the sub-zero temperatures of their Mongolian homeland.
Originally from the Gobi desert, Bactrian camels are becoming increasingly endangered in the wild – their main threats being poachers and wolves.
However large numbers have been domesticated and are kept by herdsmen in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and China.
The camels can be seen in the drive-through Safari Park at Longleat which was the first to open outside of Africa in 1966.
It is a feature of the Easter day ticket – to find out more about the seasonal event www.longleat.co.uk/easter-at-longleat
Entertainment Swindon 
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