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Llama, Alpaca, and Vicu±a

Llama and alpaca are animals which are commonly farmed in Peru and other parts of South America. Although they are native to South America, llamas and alpaca never occurred in the wild – instead they are domesticated animals which with 5,000 of years of selective breeding have become different from the animal that they were originally descended from. This is similar to the way that modern cows and sheep are different from their early ancestors.

Llama, alpaca, and their wild cousins the vicu±a and guanaco (from which domesticated species are decended) are members of the camelid family, which also includes camels. Llamas share several traits with camels, especially their reputation for getting cranky and spitting at anyone that annoys or threatens them.

Llamas and alpaca have been farmed by successive Indian cultures living in the Andes (Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia) for thousands of years. Llamas are important for their use as pack animals carrying heavy loads through the Andes, and for their meat and wool. Llama dung is even used as heating fuel in remote Andean villages (there is little firewood available in the barren Andean landscape). Alpacas are smaller than llamas and are bred almost exclusively for their wool, which is much finer and lighter than that produced by llamas (and far superior to sheep's wool) and is highly valued. In Inca times, this wool was reserved only for Inca royalty and nobles.

In recent years, llama and alpacas have been introduced into many countries such as the United States, Europe, Australia, and even New Zealand – where they are now being farmed for their wool. People who farm llamas and alpacas say that they are very good farm animals because they are intelligent and easy to train, friendly, gentle, and are healthy and easy to care for.

Vicu±a wool is even finer than alpaca wool, but because the animals never bred well in captivity it could only be taken from wild vicu±a which were frequently killed during capture. Overhunting up until the 1960s diminished the vicu±a's wild population from an estimated 1 million, to a mere 10,000. Vicu±a are now protected by law, and the animals' recovery has been assisted by the establishment of reserves – first in Peru, and soon afterwards in Boliva and Chile. This protection resulted in one of conservation's success stories, and the vicu±a's numbers are now increasing again. Vicu±a are very fast runners, and have been clocked running at 47 km/h (29 mph) at high altitudes where the air is too thin for other animals to perform similar feats. The larger guanaco are also endangered, but are still hunted for their meat and wool.