加载中…This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
When Americans think of where coyoteslive, they probably think of desert states in Southwest like Arizona. But over time these wild dogs have spread all the way to the East Coast.
Some farmers have guards to pretoct their sheep from coyotes. These guards are llamas. Llamas are south American animals usually raised in United States for their fiber or for show or as pets.
But farmers and ranchers noticed that llamas get along well with sheep. They also noticed that over time coyotes were killing fewer sheep. So, they choose llamas for guard duty.
Llamas do not need any training. Farmers
usually place only one with a group of sheep. Llamas are social
animals. Two llamas together will not pay attention to the
sheep.
In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Farmer Leo Tammi has several hundred sheep. His dogs help him control and protect the flock of sheep. But the dogs are not always available. So he uses llamas.
Whenever anything enters the fields, they know about it. He says their natural interest and willingness to face almost anything that comes near is enough to scare away a shy animal like a coyote.
Their size also helps. Llamas can weigh as much as one hundred thirty six kilogrames. And they looks something like a small horse -- a funny looking horse with a lot of fine soft fur.
Llamas are not vicious animals. However, if they are not around people at a very young age, they will not like to be touched. In many ways, a llama is just defenceless as a sheep. but a llama is a security weapon. They spit, when they get angry, they spit out the contents of their stomachs. The result looks and smells terrible.
Llamas really know how to make a statement. In fact you can find examples of llamas sound on the internet -- just remember that llama is spell with two ls l-l-a-m-a. If they sense a threat, they make an alarm sound. This is what a male sounds like. And this is a femal alarm call.
Llamas are New World camelids along with alpacacs, vicunas and guanacos. Camelids are a family of animals also include the camels and dromedaries of Africa and Asia.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, To see a video report obout llamas, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
生词：
coyote:小狼，山狗
Arizona:亚利桑那州
valley:山谷，流域
fiber:纤维
rancher:农场主,牧童，牛仔
flock:羊群，（畜）群
scare away:吓跑
vicious:恶的，凶猛的
defenceless:不能自卫的，无防卫的
alpacac:羊驼
vicuna:小羊驼
guanaco:骆马
dromedary:单峰骆驼
顶