The Red-legged Seriema Bird (Cariama cristata) is native to South America, and is widely distributed across parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. The Seriema was described by the famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766, in the twelfth edition of Systema Naturae. A predatory bird, the Seriema is sometimes used as a guard animal to protect poultry from predators. Its diet is primarily that of insects, lizards, snakes, amphibians, and small mammals. It is also known to eat the young of other birds.