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Lama (genus)
Encyclopedia
Lama is the modern genus
name for two South American camelid
s, the wild guanaco and the domesticated llama
. This genus is closely allied to the wild vicuña
and domesticated alpaca
of the genus Vicugna
. Before the Spanish
conquest of the Americas
, llamas and alpacas were the only domesticated ungulate
s of the continent
. They were kept not only for their value as beasts of burden, but also for their flesh, hides, and wool
.
. In 1800, Cuvier
moved the llama, alpaca and guanaco to the genus Lama, and the vicuña to the genus Vicugna
. Later, the alpaca was transferred to Vicugna. These camelids are, with the two species of true camel
s, the sole extant representatives of a distinct section of Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) called Tylopoda
, or "hump-footed," from the peculiar bumps on the soles of their feet. This section consists of a single family, Camelidae, the other sections of the same great division being the Suina
or pig
s, the Tragulina or chevrotain
s, and the Pecora or true ruminants, to each of which the Tylopoda have some affinity, standing in some respects in a central position between them, borrowing some characters from each, but showing special modifications not found in any of the others.
Discovery of the extinct
fauna of the American continent of the Tertiary
period, starting with the 19th century palaeontologists Leidy
, Cope
, and Marsh
, has revealed the early history of this family. Llamas were not always confined to South America; their remains are abundant in the Pleistocene
deposits of the Rocky Mountains
region, and in Central America
; some of these extinct forms were much larger than any now living.
None of these transitional forms have been found in Old World strata; North America
was the original home of the Tylopoda. Camelids invaded the Old World via Beringia, and South America via the Isthmus of Panama
, as part of the Great American Interchange
. The Old World forms were gradually driven southward, perhaps by changes of climate
, and having become isolated, they have undergone further special modifications. Meanwhile, the New World members of the family became restricted to South America
following the peopling of the Americas by Paleo-Indians and the accompanying extinction of the megafauna
.
of adults:-incisors 1/3 canines 1/1, premolars 2/2, molars 3/2; total 32. In the upper jaw there is a compressed, sharp, pointed laniariform incisor
near the hinder edge of the premaxilla
, followed in the male at least by a moderate-sized, pointed, curved true canine
in the anterior part of the maxilla. The isolated canine-like premolar
which follows in the camels is not present. The teeth of the molar series which are in contact with each other consist of two very small premolars (the first almost rudimentary) and three broad molars, constructed generally like those of Camelus. In the lower jaw, the three incisors are long, spatulate, and procumbent; the outer ones are the smallest. Next to these is a curved, suberect canine, followed after an interval by an isolated minute and often deciduous simple conical premolar; then a contiguous series of one premolar and three molars, which differ from those of Camelus in having a small accessory column at the anterior outer edge.
The skull generally resembles that of Camelus, the relatively larger brain-cavity and orbits and less developed cranial ridges being due to its smaller size. The nasal bones are shorter and broader, and are joined by the premaxilla
.
Vertebrae:
Ears are rather long and pointed. There is no dorsal hump. Feet are narrow, the toes being more separated than in the camels, each having a distinct plantar pad. The tail is short, and fur is long and woolly.
The Llama and Alpaca are only known in the domestic state, and are variable in size and colour, being often white, black, or piebald. The Guanaco and Vicuña are wild and endangered, and of a nearly uniform light-brown colour, passing into white below. They certainly differ from each other, the Vicuña being smaller, more slender in its proportions, and having a shorter head than the guanaco. It may, therefore, be considered distinct. It lives in herd
s on the bleak and elevated parts of the mountain range bordering the region of perpetual snow, amidst rocks and precipices, occurring in various suitable localities throughout Peru
, in the southern part of Ecuador
, and as far south as the middle of Bolivia
. Its manners very much resemble those of the chamois
of the European Alps; it is as vigilant, wild, and timid. The wool is extremely delicate and soft, and highly valued for the purposes of weaving, but the quantity which each animal produces is minimal.
The Guanaco has an extensive geographical range, from the high lands of the Andean region of Ecuador and Peru to the open plains of Patagonia
, and even the wooded islands of Tierra del Fuego
. It constituted the principal food of the Patagonian Indians, and they use its skin for the material out of which their long robes are constructed. It is about the size of a European red deer, and is an elegant animal with a long, slender, gracefully curved neck and slim legs.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
name for two South American camelid
Camelid
Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only living family in the suborder Tylopoda. Dromedaries, Bactrian Camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos are in this group....
s, the wild guanaco and the domesticated llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
. This genus is closely allied to the wild vicuña
Vicuña
The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...
and domesticated alpaca
Alpaca
An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...
of the genus Vicugna
Vicugna
Vicugna is a genus containing two South American camelids, the vicuña and the alpaca.Previously thought to be descended from the llama, the alpaca was reclassified as part of Vicugna after a 2001 paper on alpaca DNA. The paper showed that the alpaca is descended from the vicuña, not the...
. Before the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
conquest of the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, llamas and alpacas were the only domesticated ungulate
Ungulate
Ungulates are several groups of mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. They make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive...
s of the continent
Continent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
. They were kept not only for their value as beasts of burden, but also for their flesh, hides, and wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
.
Classification
Although they were often compared to sheep by early writers, their affinity to the camel was soon perceived. They were included in the genus Camelus in the Systema Naturae of LinnaeusCarolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
. In 1800, Cuvier
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
moved the llama, alpaca and guanaco to the genus Lama, and the vicuña to the genus Vicugna
Vicugna
Vicugna is a genus containing two South American camelids, the vicuña and the alpaca.Previously thought to be descended from the llama, the alpaca was reclassified as part of Vicugna after a 2001 paper on alpaca DNA. The paper showed that the alpaca is descended from the vicuña, not the...
. Later, the alpaca was transferred to Vicugna. These camelids are, with the two species of true camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s, the sole extant representatives of a distinct section of Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) called Tylopoda
Tylopoda
Tylopoda is a suborder of terrestrial herbivorous even-toed ungulates belonging to Artiodactyla. They are extant in the wild in their native ranges of South America and Asia, while Australian feral camels are an introduced species. The group has a long fossil history in North America and Europe...
, or "hump-footed," from the peculiar bumps on the soles of their feet. This section consists of a single family, Camelidae, the other sections of the same great division being the Suina
Suina
The suborder Suina are lineage of mammals that today includes the families Suidae and Tayassuidae and their fossil kin.- Classification :The suborder Suina includes Suidae and Tayassuidae...
or pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s, the Tragulina or chevrotain
Chevrotain
Chevrotains, also known as mouse deer, are small ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, the only members of the infraorder Tragulina. There are 10 living species in three genera, but there are also several species only known from fossils...
s, and the Pecora or true ruminants, to each of which the Tylopoda have some affinity, standing in some respects in a central position between them, borrowing some characters from each, but showing special modifications not found in any of the others.
Discovery of the extinct
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
fauna of the American continent of the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
period, starting with the 19th century palaeontologists Leidy
Joseph Leidy
Joseph Leidy was an American paleontologist.Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, and later was a professor of natural history at Swarthmore College. His book Extinct Fauna of Dakota and Nebraska contained many species not previously described and many previously...
, Cope
Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
, and Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education...
, has revealed the early history of this family. Llamas were not always confined to South America; their remains are abundant in the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
deposits of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
region, and in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
; some of these extinct forms were much larger than any now living.
None of these transitional forms have been found in Old World strata; North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
was the original home of the Tylopoda. Camelids invaded the Old World via Beringia, and South America via the Isthmus of Panama
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...
, as part of the Great American Interchange
Great American Interchange
The Great American Interchange was an important paleozoogeographic event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents...
. The Old World forms were gradually driven southward, perhaps by changes of climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
, and having become isolated, they have undergone further special modifications. Meanwhile, the New World members of the family became restricted to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
following the peopling of the Americas by Paleo-Indians and the accompanying extinction of the megafauna
Megafauna
In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...
.
Characteristics
The following characters apply especially to llamas. DentitionDentition
Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age...
of adults:-incisors 1/3 canines 1/1, premolars 2/2, molars 3/2; total 32. In the upper jaw there is a compressed, sharp, pointed laniariform incisor
Incisor
Incisors are the first kind of tooth in heterodont mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and mandible below.-Function:...
near the hinder edge of the premaxilla
Premaxilla
The incisive bone is the portion of the maxilla adjacent to the incisors. It is a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the jaws of many animals, usually bearing teeth, but not always. They are connected to the maxilla and the nasals....
, followed in the male at least by a moderate-sized, pointed, curved true canine
Canine tooth
In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth...
in the anterior part of the maxilla. The isolated canine-like premolar
Premolar
The premolar teeth or bicuspids are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant, making eight premolars total in the mouth. They have at least two cusps. Premolars can be considered as a 'transitional tooth' during chewing, or...
which follows in the camels is not present. The teeth of the molar series which are in contact with each other consist of two very small premolars (the first almost rudimentary) and three broad molars, constructed generally like those of Camelus. In the lower jaw, the three incisors are long, spatulate, and procumbent; the outer ones are the smallest. Next to these is a curved, suberect canine, followed after an interval by an isolated minute and often deciduous simple conical premolar; then a contiguous series of one premolar and three molars, which differ from those of Camelus in having a small accessory column at the anterior outer edge.
The skull generally resembles that of Camelus, the relatively larger brain-cavity and orbits and less developed cranial ridges being due to its smaller size. The nasal bones are shorter and broader, and are joined by the premaxilla
Premaxilla
The incisive bone is the portion of the maxilla adjacent to the incisors. It is a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the jaws of many animals, usually bearing teeth, but not always. They are connected to the maxilla and the nasals....
.
Vertebrae:
- cervical 7,
- dorsal 12,
- lumbar 7,
- sacral 4,
- caudal 15 to 20.
Ears are rather long and pointed. There is no dorsal hump. Feet are narrow, the toes being more separated than in the camels, each having a distinct plantar pad. The tail is short, and fur is long and woolly.
The Llama and Alpaca are only known in the domestic state, and are variable in size and colour, being often white, black, or piebald. The Guanaco and Vicuña are wild and endangered, and of a nearly uniform light-brown colour, passing into white below. They certainly differ from each other, the Vicuña being smaller, more slender in its proportions, and having a shorter head than the guanaco. It may, therefore, be considered distinct. It lives in herd
Herd
Herd refers to a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic, and also to the form of collective animal behavior associated with this or as a verb, to herd, to its control by another species such as humans or dogs.The term herd is generally applied to mammals,...
s on the bleak and elevated parts of the mountain range bordering the region of perpetual snow, amidst rocks and precipices, occurring in various suitable localities throughout Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, in the southern part of Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and as far south as the middle of Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
. Its manners very much resemble those of the chamois
Chamois
The chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand...
of the European Alps; it is as vigilant, wild, and timid. The wool is extremely delicate and soft, and highly valued for the purposes of weaving, but the quantity which each animal produces is minimal.
The Guanaco has an extensive geographical range, from the high lands of the Andean region of Ecuador and Peru to the open plains of Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
, and even the wooded islands of Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
. It constituted the principal food of the Patagonian Indians, and they use its skin for the material out of which their long robes are constructed. It is about the size of a European red deer, and is an elegant animal with a long, slender, gracefully curved neck and slim legs.