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South-American cameloids are the typical fauna of the
Andes which apparently have their origins in the continent's northern
part. Nevertheless, their domestication was started about 6000 years ago
in the Central Andes, a process that was finished with shepherding and
apparition of diverse breeds of cameloids fully domesticated toward 3500
B.C. Therefore, all or almost all the pre-Inkan Cultures used cameloids
for their nourishment and clothing. It was already in Inkan times when
importance was granted to a systematic cameloid nursing with programs
for selecting and separating flocks according to their colors and
characteristics, and enregistering their production and consumption. The
Spanish invasion and conquest meant a retrogression in cameloid-culture
because at first the wars and later relaxation induced to indiscriminate
butchering for meat supplies. Subsequently, import of foreign cattle
made cameloids' displacement to high and cold zones, to the almost
deserted Andean high barren plains where some other animals could not
survive.
There are two species of domesticated Andean cameloids that are the
"llama" and the "alpaca", and two other non-domesticated ones that are
the "guanaco" and the "vicuna". However, it apparently concerns to
animals descending from two original genuses: Lama and Vicugna (more
over, in the old world exists the genus "Camelus" with two species: the
C. Dromedarius and the C. Bactrianus). On the basis of updated
information, Mario Ruiz suggests a taxonomic classification for Andean
cameloids, like this:
|
Kingdom |
Animalia |
|
Sub-Kingdom |
Metazoa |
|
Phylum |
Chordata |
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Sub-Phyllum |
Vertebrata |
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Class |
Mammalia |
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Order |
Artiodactyla |
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Sub-Order |
Ruminantia |
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Infra-Order |
Tylopoda |
|
Family |
Camelidae |
|
Tribe |
Lamini |
|
Genuses |
Lama |
|
Vicugna |
|
Species |
Lama guanicoe Muller 1776
(Guanaco) |
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Lama glama Linnaeus 1758 (Llama) |
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Vicugna vicugna Molina 1782 (Vicuna) |
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Vicugna pacos Linnaeus 1758
(Alpaca) |
LLAMA.- It has a slender shape and can not be distinguished by
its color because it could have up to half a hundred different tones. It
has elongated legs, neck and face and can reach as high as 1.90 mts.
(6'2") from the floor to its head. It is the most common and strongest
among the Andean cameloids that is generally used as pack animal, and it
can carry a weight of about 40 kg. (88 lb.) in long journeys and up to
60 kg. (133 lb.) in short ones, at a rate of 26 Km. per day over rugged
mountain terrain at an elevation of 5000 meters. Its average weight when
adult is 115 kg. (254 lb.) and just after born about 11.5 kg. (25 lb.).
Its gestation period lasts about 348±9 days; the female reaches its
sexual maturity when she is one year old, but she is mated just when 2
or 3 years old. The male is used for procreation mostly when 3 years old.
Their mating and bearing epoch is between January and April, and after a
month of having given birth, the female llama is ready for fecundation.
These breeding characteristics are relatively common for all Andean
cameloids. Llamas present traditionally two breeds, the Q'ara (bare) and
the Ch'aku (woolly). They have less dense fiber (technically it is "fiber"
and not "wool") than alpacas which average diameter is 28±11 micra (µ:
micron: length measurement equivalent to one millionth of meter or one
thousandth of millimeter).
ALPACA ("Paqocha" in Quechua).- It has a smaller and more curved
silhouette than the llama, and has a classical fiber cowlick on its
front. It can not be differentiated by its color because it has many
tones too. It can reach a height up to 1.50 mts. (4'11") on its head,
and a maximum weight of 64 kg. (141 lb.) and about 7 kg. (15 lb.) when
born. Its gestation period is 343±2 days and like llamas the female can
mate after turning one year old. Generally it has more and better fiber
than llamas and presents two different breeds: Wakayo and Suri. The
Wakayo alpaca has dense and spongy fiber covering almost all its body
and leaving just the face and legs covered with short hair; while that
the Suri alpaca presents lank, silky and long fiber that reaches in
average a length of about 15 cm. (6'). It is sheared with knives or
scissors generally once every two years, though it could also be sheared
every year without taking care on the year's season; obtaining annually
a fiber fleece of about 1.7 kgs. (3.75 lb.) per animal. In average,
diameter of alpaca fiber is about 25±5 micra; however, this diameter is
in direct relationship to age of the animal. Commercially the finest
fiber that is possible to get in Peru is that named "baby alpaca wool"
that is very soft and fine.
VICUNA (Wik'uña).- It is the smallest among the Andean cameloids
and can reach as high as 1.30 mts. (4'3") from the floor to its head. It
has a thin and slender body with agile movements. Its fur has a light
brown color on the back and almost all its external part, but its chest,
belly and the legs inside are whitish. The white bristle cowlick on its
chest can be about 20 cm. (8") long. Just after birth it has a weight of
about 5 kg. (11 lb.) and about 40 Kg. (88 lb.) when adult. The female
one reach puberty when one year old but she is mated when 2 years old;
her gestation period lasts 340±10 days. Its fiber is the finest among
all the animal fibers with an average diameter of 12.5±1.5 micra; but it
is short hardly reaching 3 cms. (1¼"). Its annual fleece can reach a
maximum weight of 320 grams (11 oz.). The vicuna, having the finest
fiber is very coveted and was an endangered species; today, the Peruvian
government officially protects this species in special national parks.
But, in reality damage to this valued animal is latent with furtive
hunters that are decimating it slowly. World wide population of vicunas
does not surpass 170 thousand, from which about 100 thousand are found
in Peru in regions that are over 3800 mts. (12460 ft.) of altitude.
GUANACO (Wanaku),- It has a similar silhouette to that of a
llama, with a light brown-reddish dense and short fur, with blackish
tones on the head and whitish zones around the lips, the ears' edges and
inside the legs, and something like a collar under the neck. After birth
it weighs about 10 kg. (22 lb.) and a maximum of 140 kg. (310 lb.) when
adult. It has a height of 1.80 mts. (5'11") from the floor to its head
and it is very common in the Andes of Chile and Argentina. Economically
it does not have so much importance and lives in a complete wild state.
South-American cameloids in wild state (vicunas and guanacos) live
generally in families formed by a male and from 3 to even 6 female ones
along with their broods. The male has the authority in the group and
expels the broods before they are one year old. Subsequently the males
are joined in troops of up to 20 animals, while that some male ones live
all alone and wandering until establishing their family groups. The
family's territory is bounded by its latrines; territory that is bravely
defended by the male. As members of a group they urinate and defecate
only in a communal dung heap. This social behavior has been modified
among the domesticated cameloids (llamas and alpacas); however, male
ones always have the authority.
Andean cameloids are also able to interbreed amongst themselves; because
they have an identical number of chromosomes, the same karyotype and
immunological pattern, they can generate fertile broods. From
intercourse of llama and alpaca results Wari, while that from
intercourse of vicuna and alpaca results Paqovicuna. Nevertheless, these
crosses do not allow improvement or domestication of participating
cameloids and next hybrid generations will again have the
characteristics of one or the other of the parents.
Meat of Andean cameloids is eaten since immemorial times; in Inkan times
it was used fresh or dried up. Fresh cameloid meat has a cholesterol
level ten times lower than lamb or beef, therefore, it consumption would
be healthier. Chroniclers wrote that Inkan storehouses were full of
dehydrated vegetables and "charki" (the English word "jerky" derives
from the Quechua name "charki") the cameloids' salty-dry meat processed
during the dry season. The meat is exposed to sun rays during the day
and to the cold of frosts during the night; squeezed and dried up with a
lot of salt during two months with the aim of guaranteeing its
conservation for a long time. Cameloids "charki" keeps fresh the meat's
nutritious values that are very high. However, the Peruvian history and
society have created a negative stigma about cameloids: in colonial
times it was believed that they were syphilis transmitters, and today it
is believed that they are inferior animals as well as their shepherds
and owners. Common people believe that they are animals for "Indians"
and that their meat is poor and bad.
Cameloids' milk is not generally used by Andean people due to its small
amount; however, techniques could be improved in order to get a better
production and use it very extensively. Besides, cameloids' skin is
being processed in the last decades in many regions of Peru and Bolivia
for making good quality leathers.
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