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The Story Of... Llamas
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The llama was
central to the success of the Inca empire
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The only large mammals ever domesticated within the Ancient Americas, Llamas and alpacas are
evolutionary cousins of the camel – although they lack the camel's signature hump. Like camels,
llamas are intelligent and gregarious herbivores, but when aggravated, over-burdened or
other-wise annoyed, they tend to hiss, spit, kick, and refuse to move, often lying down in protest.
Domesticated by Native Americans more than 5,000 years ago, llamas
average around 4 feet tall at the shoulder. Primarily kept for their
wool, they are also used for their meat, dung and hides.
Llamas are kept in paddocks and never brought indoors; nor are they
milked for human consumption. This has meant that very few diseases
have ever jumped species from llama to man, compared to the host of
diseases which Europeans inherited from living in close proximity
to their livestock.
The llama’s high tolerance for thirst, and appetite for a broad
range of plants, made it key to Native American transport and communication
throughout the Andes. Although llamas can average between fifteen
and twenty miles a day, llamas lack the strength of oxen, camels and
horses,so they’re unable to carry adult humans or pull any kind
of machinery. Even if the Inca had discovered the wheel, no llama
could ever have pulled a cart larger than a wheelbarrow.
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The Llama, central to the success of the Inca empire
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At the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, llamas were used in great numbers to transport
silver ore from the Inca mining network. One Spanish observer guessed that as many as 300,000 llama
were used to export the produce of one particular mine (Potosi, in modern Bolivia), alone.
But geography had ensured that the continent's only load-bearing mammal
remained isolated, known only to the indigenous peoples of the Andes.
The inhospitable jungles of the Panamanian isthmus and the deserts
of South America ensured that no llamas – and no Inca –
had ever reached the Aztecs, or beyond.
Where to next?
Get more stories about animals including Cattle,
Goats, Sheep, Pigs,
Horses or Zebra.
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