Chapter One: Before
They Came
[Page 2]
Our anticipation increased as the months passed. It was a little
like being pregnant, but Levi had already been born. We read everything
we could find about llamas and learned more of their history.
The llama is a South American animal, part of the camel family.
Like camels, they have padded, even-toed feet and split lips. I
was surprised to learn that their common ancestors originated in
North America and lived on this continent for over forty million
years. These earlier animals evolved into camels in Asia and Africa
and the lama family of llamas, alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos in
South America. They had only died out in North America some ten
or twelve thousand years ago.
In South America, llamas live mainly in the high Andes. Vicunas
and guanacos are wild. Vicunas are famed for their fine wool; its
softness has brought them to the brink of extinction. Guanacos are
believed to be the forerunners of llamas; the two species are similar
in many respects, though the guanaco's wool is fine and shorter.
While guanacos do not have the official status of endangered, their
numbers are a tiny fraction of what they were a century ago.
Alpacas and llamas have been domesticated for centuries. The alpaca
is a smaller animal than the llama, with wool that is more highly
prized. There are far more llamas than alpacas in North America.
Archaeological findings indicate that llamas were living with man
by 3000 B.C. The vast Inca empire, which reached its peak toward
the end of the Middle Ages in Europe, used llamas in many ways.
They were beasts of burden, essential in a mountainous society that
had not utilized the wheel. Their wool was used for blankets, ponchos,
and other items. They played an important part in the religious
and ceremonial life of the Incas: many llamas were sacrificed to
the gods.
One of the world's most versatile domestic animals, the llama is
still used as a beast of burden and for wool, primarily in the Bolivian
and Peruvian highlands. Its dung is used for fuel--it is said to
be odorless when burned. Less and less are llamas used for long-distance
transport, though, as trucks reach further into remote areas.
Llamas were brought to the United States during the nineteenth
century and early in this one by William Randolph Hearst and others.
In the 1930s, an importation ban was imposed on South American livestock,
for fear that they might bring in foot and mouth disease. In the
1980s, importation of llamas and alpacas was resumed in a limited
way, with the animals coming in through special government-run importation
quarantines and facilities.
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