What Are Llamas Used For? Pack Animals, Wool and Guards

Pack animals of the Andes

The llama was the only large pack animal in the Americas before Europeans brought horses, donkeys and mules. Bred from the wild guanaco several thousand years ago, it became the truck of the Andes, carrying crops, salt, wool, pottery and trade goods between high pastures and lower valleys.

Llamas are not strong in the way a horse or mule is. A fit adult can carry about 25–30% of its body weight, usually 30–45 kg (65–100 lb), for roughly 8–13 km (5–8 miles) a day. What makes them valuable is stamina at altitude, sure footing on rocky trails and the ability to live on rough mountain grazing. A llama that is overloaded or tired has a famous way of saying so: it lies down and refuses to move until the load is lightened.

Pack trains, or caravans, of dozens or even hundreds of llamas were a key part of Andean trade. Under the Inca Empire, huge state-owned herds supplied the army and moved goods along the Inca road network. In the Spanish colonial period, llamas carried silver ore from the mines of Potosí in present-day Bolivia; one 17th-century writer estimated that as many as 300,000 llamas were working in the Potosí trade. Horses, mules, donkeys and later trucks took over much of this work, but llama caravans are still used in some remote parts of the Bolivian and Peruvian highlands.

Meat, hides and dung

Llamas have always been a source of food in the Andes. Llama meat is lean and is eaten fresh or dried. Dried, salted meat called ch’arki in Quechua, usually spelled charqui in Spanish, kept for months in the cold, dry mountain air. The English word “jerky” comes from it.

Hides are made into leather, sandals and ropes, and the fat and bones were traditionally used as well. Llama dung is especially useful on the treeless Altiplano. Herds use shared dung piles, which makes it easy to collect, and dried dung is burned as cooking fuel and spread as fertilizer on potato and quinoa fields. Some archaeologists argue that llama dung helped make farming possible at very high altitudes.

Llama wool and fiber

Llamas also give fiber, though they are not the Andes’ main wool animal; that role belongs to the alpaca. A llama’s coat is a double coat, with a soft undercoat and coarser outer guard hairs. Animals are typically shorn every one or two years, and Animal Diversity Web gives a yield of about 3 kg (6.6 lb) of fleece per shearing.

Once the coarse hairs are separated out, the undercoat makes warm yarn for sweaters, hats and blankets. The coarser fiber is used for rugs, ropes, sacks, lead lines and wall hangings. Fiber color is natural and varied, from white and gray to many browns and black. If you are comparing the two fibers, see What is alpaca wool? and the alpaca vs llama comparison.

Guard llamas for sheep and goats

One of the best-known modern jobs for llamas is guarding livestock. Sheep and goat ranchers in the western United States began using guard llamas in the early 1980s, and the practice has spread to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and parts of continental Europe. Losses to predators such as coyotes, foxes and free-roaming dogs are the main reason.

A guard llama works by being part of the flock. Llamas are naturally wary of dog-like animals. When a guard llama spots a threat, it gives a loud, shrill alarm call, stares at the intruder and often walks or runs toward it. Many will chase, stamp at or kick a coyote or dog, and the sheep often gather behind the llama. Llamas also tend to adopt sheep or goats as their own herd.

Experience from ranchers and extension services has led to a few general rules:

• One llama is usually best. Two or more llamas tend to bond with each other and pay less attention to the flock.
• Gelded males are preferred. A castrated male of about two years old usually settles in well and is less likely to bother ewes.
• Llamas work best against smaller predators. They are effective mainly against coyotes, foxes and dogs; they are not a defense against wolves, bears or packs of large predators.

For ranchers, a guard llama has practical advantages: it eats the same pasture as the sheep, needs no special food and can live for 15–25 years.

Trekking, shows and therapy visits

In North America and Europe, many llamas are kept as trekking animals. Hikers lead llamas on mountain and forest trails while the animals carry tents, food and water. Llamas tread lightly on trails thanks to their soft, padded feet and are calm and easy to lead, which makes llama treks popular with families.

Llamas also appear at agricultural shows, where they compete in obstacle, packing and handling classes, and in youth farm programs. Some have even worked as golf caddies. Calm, well-trained llamas visit nursing homes, schools and hospitals as therapy and visiting animals, where their curiosity and gentle hum make them good company. Llamas raised normally in a herd rarely spit at people; the reasons they spit at each other are explained in Why do llamas spit?.

Llamas in science

Llamas have an unusual place in laboratories too. Like other camelids, they produce, alongside normal antibodies, a type of very small antibody made of heavy chains only. Fragments of these, called nanobodies, are much smaller than ordinary antibodies, and scientists use them as research tools and are testing them for medical uses, including against viruses such as the one that causes COVID-19.

Llamas in Andean culture

Beyond their practical uses, llamas have long had religious and cultural importance in the Andes. The Moche people of northern Peru modeled realistic llamas in pottery, and the Inca offered llamas in ceremonies and placed llama figurines in burials. Many highland families still mark their llamas with colorful woolen tassels in ear-decorating ceremonies.

In short, llamas have been transport, food, fuel, clothing and companions for Andean peoples for thousands of years, and today they have added new jobs as livestock guardians and trekking partners around the world.