The llama (; Spanish pronunciation: [ˈʎama] or [ˈʝama]; Lama glama) is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft and contains only a small amount of lanolin. Llamas can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions. When using a pack, they can carry about 25 to 30% of their body weight for 8 to 13 km (5–8 miles). The name llama (also historically spelled "lama" or "glama") was adopted by European settlers from native Peruvian Quechua. The ancestors of llamas are thought to have originated on the Great Plains of North America about 40 million years ago and subsequently migrated to South America about three million years ago during the Great American Interchange. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago), camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over seven million llamas and alpacas in South America. Some were imported to the United States and Canada late in the 20th century; their descendants now number more than 158,000 llamas and 100,000 alpacas. In Aymara mythology, llamas are important beings. The Heavenly Llama is said to drink water from the ocean and urinates as it rains. According to Aymara eschatology, llamas will return to the water springs and ponds where they come from at the end of time.
Classification
Laminids consist of llamas (Lama glama), alpacas (Lama pacos), guanacos (Lama guanicoe) and vicuñas (Lama vicugna), the former two are domesticated while the latter two being wild. Although early writers compared llamas to sheep, their similarity to the camel was soon recognized. They were included in the genus Camelus along with alpaca in the Systema Naturae (1758) of Carl Linnaeus. They were, however, separated by Georges Cuvier in 1800 under the name of lama along with the guanaco. DNA analysis has confirmed that the guanaco is the wild ancestor of the llama, while the vicuña is the wild ancestor of the alpaca. The genus Lama is, with the three species of true camels, the sole existing representatives of a very distinct section of the Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) called Tylopoda, or "bump-footed", from the peculiar bumps on the soles of their feet. The Tylopoda consists of a single family, the Camelidae, and shares the order Artiodactyla with the Suina (pigs), the Tragulina (chevrotains), the Pecora (ruminants), and the Whippomorpha (hippos and cetaceans, which belong to Artiodactyla from a cladistic, if not traditional, standpoint). The Tylopoda have more or less affinity to each of the sister taxa, standing in some respects in a middle position between them, sharing some characteristics from each, but in others showing special modifications not found in any of the other taxa.
The 19th-century discoveries of a vast and previously unexpected extinct Paleogene fauna of North America, as interpreted by paleontologists Joseph Leidy, Edward Drinker Cope, and Othniel Charles Marsh, aided understanding of the early history of this family. Llamas were not always confined to South America; abundant llama-like remains were found in Pleistocene deposits in the Rocky Mountains and in Central America. Some of the fossil llamas were much larger than current forms. Some species remained in North America during the last ice ages. North American llamas are categorized as an extinct genus, Hemiauchenia. Llama-like animals would have been a common sight 25,000 years ago in modern-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Missouri, and Florida. The camelid lineage has a good fossil record. Camel-like animals have been traced back through early Miocene forms from the thoroughly differentiated, modern species. Their characteristics became more general, and they lost those that distinguished them as camelids; hence, they were classified as ancestral artiodactyls. No fossils of these earlier forms have been found in the Old World, indicating that North America was the original home of camelids and that the ancestors of Old World camels crossed over via the Bering Land Bridge from North America. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama three million years ago allowed camelids to spread to South America as part of the Great American Interchange, where they evolved further. Meanwhile, North American camelids died out at the end of the Pleistocene.
Characteristics
A full-grown llama can reach a height of 1.7 to 1.8 m (5 ft 7 in to 5 ft 11 in) at the top of the head and can weigh between 130 and 272 kg (287 and 600 lb). At maturity, males can weigh 94.74 kg, while females can weigh 102.27 kg. At birth, a baby llama (called a cria) can weigh between 9 and 14 kg (20 and 31 lb). Llamas typically live for 15 to 25 years, with some individuals surviving 30 years or more. The following characteristics apply especially to llamas. Dentition of adults: incisors 1/3 canines 1/1, premolars 2/2, molars 3/3; total 32. In the upper jaw, a compressed, sharp, pointed laniariform incisor near the hinder edge of the premaxilla is followed in the male at least by a moderate-sized, pointed, curved true canine in the anterior part of the maxilla. The isolated canine-like premolar that follows in the camels is not present. The teeth of the molar series, which are in contact with each other, consist of two very small premolars (the first almost rudimentary) and three broad molars, generally constructed like those of Camelus. In the lower jaw, the three incisors are long, spatulate, and procumbent; the outer ones are the smallest. Next to these is a curved, suberect canine, followed after an interval by an isolated minute and often deciduous simple conical premolar; then a contiguous series of one premolar and three molars, which differ from those of Camelus in having a small accessory column at the anterior outer edge.
The skull generally resembles a Camelus, with a larger brain cavity and orbits and less-developed cranial ridges due to its smaller size. The nasal bones are shorter and broader and are joined by the premaxilla. Vertebrae:
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