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Llama

Lama glama

Description:

This is in Machu Pichu. There's a baby in the last picture.

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2 Comments

Catta Pilosa
Catta Pilosa 9 years ago

Considering your location and the appearance of the animals, I would say that these are llamas, not alpacas.

It is unlikely that they are guanacos (a wild camelid and and parent species of the domestic llama) if they were tagged and not too shy to approach you. They do not look like vicuñas to me, either, which are also wild and (I believe) less common.

Llamas are such gentle and beautiful creatures; they love neck rubs and (in my experience) rarely spit at people. I have been caught between two llamas spitting at each other, but have never been spit at directly. The spit was not what I expected; it was more of a spray than the glob that cartoons depict. It was mostly grass, too. I think alpacas can be a bit snobbish, but I like them all. c;
Anyway....

Thank you for sharing your find; Machu Picchu would be an incredible place to visit.

I hope that I was of some help. I highly recommend looking up guanacos and vicuñas, as they have quite an interesting history. Oh, and baby llamas are called crias! ^__^

DanielePralong
DanielePralong 9 years ago

I agree with rie that these are llamas. One easy way to tell them apart is the ears. Llamas have long banana-shaped ears (as seen here) while alpacas have shorter spear-shaped ears.

groosha6
Spotted by
groosha6

Rímac, Lima, Peru

Spotted on Jun 18, 2013
Submitted on May 30, 2014

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