llama

A group of domestic llamas in the Altiplano in Peru. Male llamas are used as pack animals throughout the Andes and females are raised for their milk and meat. The wool of both sexes is used for making textiles and the dried dung is burnt as fuel.

A llama at a waterhole in northern Chile. Llama herds are maintained chiefly by the indigenous people of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina, where they provide an important means of transport across the mountains and plateaux. It is thought that llamas were domesticated before or at the time of the Incas, to be used as pack animals.

South American even-toed hoofed mammal belonging to the camel family, about 1.2 m/4 ft high at the shoulder. Llamas can be white, brown, or dark, sometimes with spots or patches. They are very hardy, and require little food or water. They spit when annoyed. (Species Lama glama, family Camelidae.)

Llamas are used in Peru as beasts of burden, and also for their wool, milk, and meat. Llamas and alpacas are both domesticated forms of the guanaco.