Llama

About the llama

The llama (Lama glama) is a domesticated South American camelid that Andean cultures have used as a pack and meat animal since pre-Columbian times. It belongs to the genus Lama, alongside the alpaca (Lama pacos) and two wild relatives, the guanaco and the vicuña. DNA analysis has confirmed that the guanaco is the wild ancestor of the domestic llama, while the vicuña is the wild ancestor of the alpaca, and the two domestic species have hybridized to some degree over time. Llamas and their relatives make up the family Camelidae, part of a distinct group called the Tylopoda, or "bump-footed" mammals, named for the padded soles on their feet rather than hooves — a group they share only with the three species of true camels.

A full-grown llama stands 5 ft 7 in to 5 ft 11 in (1.7 to 1.8 m) at the top of the head and weighs between 287 and 600 lb (130 to 272 kg); at maturity, males can weigh around 209 lb (94.7 kg) and females around 225 lb (102.3 kg). A newborn, called a cria, weighs 20 to 31 lb (9 to 14 kg) at birth. Llamas are easy to tell apart from camels: they have no dorsal hump. Their ears are long and slightly curved inward, often described as "banana" shaped, and their feet are narrow with separated toes and a distinct pad on each. The tail is short, and the coat is long, woolly, and soft, with only a small amount of lanolin.

The camelid family's fossil record actually begins in North America. The ancestors of llamas are thought to have arisen on the Great Plains roughly 40 million years ago, then migrated into South America about three million years ago once the Isthmus of Panama connected the two continents. Camelids disappeared from North America entirely by the end of the last ice age, 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. By 2007, more than seven million llamas and alpacas lived in South America, and llamas brought to the United States and Canada late in the 20th century have since grown to a population of more than 158,000, alongside more than 100,000 alpacas. In Aymara mythology of the Andes, llamas hold a special place: the "Heavenly Llama" is said to drink from the ocean and cause rain by urinating, and is expected to return to its home springs and ponds at the end of time.

Behavior and diet

Llamas are not ruminants, but they digest food in a related way. They have a three-compartment stomach — a rumen, omasum, and abomasum, compared to the four compartments of true ruminants like cattle, sheep, and goats — that ferments tough, high-cellulose plant matter before it is regurgitated and re-chewed. An unusually long, complex colon then reabsorbs extra water, vitamins, and electrolytes from digested waste, letting llamas get by on much less water than many other animals, an advantage in the dry climates where they have traditionally been kept. As pack animals, a llama can carry roughly 25 to 30% of its body weight over 5 to 8 miles (8 to 13 km).

Llamas are social herd animals, and rank within a herd is never permanent. Individuals, usually males, challenge one another in dramatic bouts of spitting, chest-ramming, neck wrestling, and kicking to move up the social ladder. A well-socialized, halter-trained llama is typically curious and approachable, but a llama that is bottle-fed or over-handled as a youngster can grow difficult to manage as an adult, treating people the way it treats other llamas. Because a kick from a llama's powerful hind legs carries real force, llamas are also used as livestock guardians. In pastures they keep tidy habits, returning to one or a few spots to defecate, and like horses, they enjoy taking dust baths.

Female llamas are induced ovulators: mating itself triggers the release of an egg, which is often fertilized on the first attempt, rather than the female cycling through a heat. Females reach sexual maturity around 12 months old, while males mature closer to age three. Mating takes place in a lying-down, or "kush," position and can last 20 to 45 minutes, both unusual traits for a large animal. After a gestation of about 11.5 months (350 days), the female gives birth standing up, usually in under 30 minutes and most often between 8 a.m. and noon. The cria is up, walking, and attempting to nurse within its first hour, sustained by llama milk that is lower in fat and salt and higher in phosphorus and calcium than cow's or goat's milk.

Range and habitat

Llamas were domesticated in the Andes of South America, where herders have kept them since pre-Columbian times, primarily as pack and meat animals. The lineage's fossil history, though, started in North America: ancestors of the llama are believed to have arisen on the Great Plains around 40 million years ago before crossing into South America about three million years ago as the Isthmus of Panama formed a land bridge during the Great American Interchange. Some fossil llamas were considerably larger than the animals alive today, and llama-like species remained common in North America — turning up in Pleistocene-era deposits in what are now California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Missouri, and Florida — until camelids died out there by the close of the last ice age, 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Today llamas exist only as domestic animals, raised in pastures and along highland pack routes across the Andes of South America. Smaller populations are kept on farms across the United States and Canada, where descendants of animals imported late in the 20th century now number more than 158,000.

Conservation status

The llama is Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List. It exists only as a domesticated animal, and domestic animals aren't assessed on the Red List. Llamas continue to be bred widely as livestock and pack animals.

Its wild relatives are separate species. The guanaco, the llama's wild ancestor, has a nearly uniform light-brown coat that fades to white underneath. The vicuña, the wild ancestor of the alpaca, lives high on the bleak, rocky slopes of the Andes near the snowline in Peru, southern Ecuador and Bolivia, and its extremely soft fiber is prized for weaving even though each animal produces only a small amount.