Llama

The llama is a domesticated South American camelid, scientifically named Lama glama, valued by Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era as a pack and meat animal. It is a woolly mammal that reaches 1.7 to 1.8 meters at the top of the head and weighs between 130 and 272 kilograms, typically living 15 to 25 years and sometimes more than 30. A llama can carry about 25 to 30 percent of its body weight over distances of 8 to 13 kilometers. Its ancestors originated on the North American Great Plains around 40 million years ago and migrated to South America roughly three million years ago, before camelids went extinct in North America by the end of the last ice age. The Quechua people of Peru gave the animal its name, and as of 2007 more than seven million llamas and alpacas lived in South America, with over 158,000 llamas established in North America by the late 20th century.