Jackdaws making the most of Longleat camels' moulting

The birds have been pinching hair for their nests

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 7th Apr 2025

Cheeky jackdaws have been helping themselves to a warm camel hair coat at Wiltshire's Longleat.

The annual moult of the Bactrian camels at the safari park is giving the birds an opportunity to literally 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 camels are happy to let the jackdaws come close and help shed their winter coats

The birds are seemingly speeding up the process and the camels don’t appear to mind too much!

Keeper Ian Turner captured the moment on camera as the birds took the up-market woolly lining to create the chic fur lined nests.

Bactrian camels have two humps and are covered in thick fur to protect themselves from the sub-zero temperatures of their Mongolian homeland.

The birds have been picking the hair away from the camels for their own nests

They're becoming increasingly endangered in the wild with poachers and wolves their main threats.

Large numbers have been domesticated though 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 back in 1966.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.