446 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



The Llama of Meyen estimates the importance of 

 Great Value to the the Llama to the Peruvians as equal 

 Peruvians. to that of the Reindeer to the Lap- 

 lander. The animals are kept on the table-lands in 

 enormous herds. All species of Llamas produce at 

 a birth only a single young one, which is by mothers 

 of most species suckled for about four months, and 

 for a period somewhat longer by females of the 

 Llama species proper. 



The same naturalist informs us that the importance 



and also the price of the Llama have considerably 



diminished since the introduction of animals of the 



Horse tribe, and further that the herds of Llamas 



are occasionally ravaged by terrible plagues, and 



stricken down in appalling numbers. 



Peculiarities of At present the Llama is seen in 



Temper of the nearly all zoological gardens. If it 



Llama. \ s kept in company with others of its 



kind, it seems to be much more amiable than when 



say that I never knew one to be gentle or good- 

 natured. 



Characteristics The third form of the group, the 

 oftheAl- Paco or Alpaca {Auckenia pacos), is 

 paca. smaller than the Llama, and shows a 



similarity to the Sheep in physical structure, but has 

 a longer neck and a more delicate head. Its fleece 

 is very long and of exquisite softness; on some spots, 

 as for instance, on the sides of the body, the hair at- 

 tains a length of from four to five inches. The color 

 is usually entirely white or black, but there are also 

 pied or mottled specimens. 



The Alpacas are kept in large herds, which graze 

 on the high plains all the year round; they are driven 

 to the huts or booths of the owners for shearing 

 only. There is, perhaps, no other animal that has so 

 refractory a temper as the Alpaca. If one is sepa- 

 rated from the herd, it throws itself on the ground, 

 and neither coaxing nor blows can persuade it to 



THE ALPACA. Smaller than tlie Llama, which it otherwise resembles, the Alpaca is distinguished for its heavy coat ot wool which is lustrous 



and of a fine quality. Alpacas congregate in herds in the high mountains of Peru in a semi-domesticated condition, being only driven into villages to 

 be shorn. [Auchenia paco.) 



it is alone, and has nothing to claim its attention. It 

 agrees peaceably with its generic and family rela- 

 tions, and mated couples especially are tenderly 

 attached to each other. They learn to know their 

 keeper and act tolerably well toward him, but toward 

 strangers they exhibit the ugly disposition of true 

 Camels, being constantly in an ill humor, and ex- 

 ceedingly irritable. In the Berlin Tiergarten there 

 was a Llama which was endowed with an especially 

 unpleasant temper; a placard was attached to its 

 cage, asking visitors to refrain from provoking the 

 Llama, the natural result being that everybody did 

 his best to irritate the animal. Consequently it was 

 in a state of perpetual agitation. Whenever a visitor 

 approached, its comfortable rumination instantly 

 ceased; it laid its ears back, stared at the stranger, 

 then suddenly walked up and spit at him. The other 

 Llamas, which I have seen, or have had under my 

 charge, behaved in a similar manner, and I can truly 



get up. It prefers the severest castigation, and even 

 the most painful death to obedience. A single indi- 

 vidual can be induced to move only by making it 

 join a herd of Llamas or Sheep. From time im- 

 memorial the Indians have manufactured blankets 

 and cloaks out of the wool of the Alpacas and 

 Llamas. 



Value of the The attempt to transplant Alpacas 

 Alpaca to in Europe has been repeatedly made, 

 Man. bvit so far has been uniformly a fail- 



ure, and like attempts to colonize them in Australia 

 have met with no better success, although the exper- 

 iments of that kind in the latter country have been 

 on a larger scale than those in Europe. The Alpacas 

 possess great powers of endurance, can be main- 

 tained with but little care, and propagate rapidly. 

 Besides being valuable for their wool, which sells 

 for about seventy dollars per hundred weight on the 

 western coast of South America, the flesh of the Al- 



