Cariama cristata; Print; The red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata); or crested cariama; is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family (Cariamidae); included in the Gruiformes in the old paraphyletic circumscription; but increasingly placed in a distinct order Cariamiformes (along with three extinct families). The red-legged seriema inhabits grasslands from Brazil south of the Amazon to Uruguay and northern Argentina. It is estimated that its range covers an area of 5.9 million sq km; although it is not found everywhere in this region. The species is absent from the Mata Atl鈔tica and planalto uplands along the coast of Brazil. Like the black-legged seriema; farmers often use them as guard animals to protect poultry from predators and sometimes human intruders.; 1700-1880