Description
Llama, (Lama glama), South American member of the camel family, Camelidae (order Artiodactyla), closely related to the alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña, which are known collectively as lamoids. Unlike camels, lamoids do not have the characteristic camel humps; they are slender-bodied animals and have long legs and necks, short tails, small heads, and large, pointed ears. Gregarious animals, they graze on grass and other plants. When annoyed, they spit. Lamoids are able to interbreed and to produce fertile offspring.
Most herds of llamas are maintained by the Indians of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. The llama is primarily a pack animal but is also used as a source of food, wool, hides, tallow for candles, and dried dung for fuel. The largest of the lamoids, it averages 120 cm (47 inches) at the shoulder. A 113-kilogram (250-pound) llama can carry a load of 45–60 kg and average 25 to 30 km (15 to 20 miles) travel a day. The llama’s high thirst tolerance, endurance, and ability to subsist on a wide variety of forage makes it an important transport animal on the bleak Andean plateaus and mountains. The llama is a gentle animal, but, when overloaded or maltreated, it will lie down, hiss, spit and kick, and refuse to move. Llamas breed in the (Southern Hemispheric) late summer and fall, from November to May. The gestation period lasts about 11 months, and the female gives birth to one young. Although usually white, the llama may be solid black or brown, or it may be white with black or brown markings.
