THE LLAMAS 999 



twenty years. In Mongolia and on the Kirghiz steppes the Bactrian camel is fully 

 as important to the nomad inhabitants as is its southern cousin in Arabia. 



THE LLAMAS 

 Genus Lama 



Under the general title of llamas may be conveniently included all the existing 

 South American representatives of the camel family, although that name properly 

 belongs only to a domesticated variety of one of the two wild species. All the 

 llamas are smaller in size and lighter in build than the camels, and owing to the ab- 

 sence of any hump on the back depart less widely from the ordinary type of Ungu- 

 lates. Their pointed ears are relatively much longer than in the camels, while their 

 thickly-haired tails are reduced to a little more than a stump. The feet, again, are 

 narrower and more pointed than in their Old World relatives, and have their toes 

 more completely separated, each toe being furnished with a distinct pad on the sole. 

 The whole of the body is covered with a thick coat of long hair partaking of a 

 woolly nature; and there are fewer callosities on the limbs than in the camels. As 

 characteristics of minor import, it may be added that the head is proportionately 

 longer than in the latter, and has a tapering and sharply-pointed muzzle, while the 

 neck is relatively thinner. 



The skull has one tooth on each side of the upper jaw less than in the camels, 

 the missing tooth being the isolated sharp-pointed premolar which is found in the 

 latter in the middle of the gap between the tusk and the main series of cheek-teeth. 

 Consequently the total number of teeth is only thirty-two instead of thirty-four. 

 The premolar tooth in the lower jaw, which is of very small size, not unfrequently, 

 however, falls out in the adult, and thus reduces the number to thirty. 



Llamas at the present day are entirely confined to the western and 

 southern regions of South America, and can live only where the climate 

 is temperate. Thus on the western side of the continent they are restricted to the 

 higher ranges of the Andes, but in many parts, Patagonia and Tierra-del-Fuego, 

 they flourish on the plains at the sea level. In the neighborhood of the Equator 

 they are generally found at elevations of between twelve thousand and sixteen thou- 

 sand feet above the sea, and they never descend lower than between six thousand 

 and seven thousand feet. During the rainy part of the year the wild species which 

 inhabit the mountains ascend to the limits of vegetation, but in the hot season they 

 descend to the valleys where alone sustenance is to be found. They live in larger 

 or smaller parties, and sometimes congregate in herds comprising many hundreds 

 of individuals. All the species are characterized by their very objectionable habit 

 of spitting, as many visitors to zoological gardens well know. 



There are two wild species of llamas now existing, respectively known 



as the vicuna and the guanaco, and likewise two domesticated races, 



namely, the llama and the alpaca. For a long period much uncertainty existed as 



to the relationship of these domesticated races to the wild species, but the researches 



of Mr. O. Thomas have lead to the conclusion that both the former are in all prob- 



