LLAMAS TO THE RESCUE

Now that LLmas are in the forefront of provoding a possible cure to Covid 19 all we can do is wait and cross our fingers.

(Details on that are on my YouTube channel @ Environment one on one and IGTV on instagram. Just follow felix_kioko and watch)

Llamas are domesticated mammals closely related to camels. The two species look strikingly similar, although the llama lacks the camel’s signature hump. Llamas are also slender-bodied animals and have long legs and necks, short tails, small heads, and large, pointed ears. They graze on grass and other plants. When annoyed, they spit.

Lamoids are able to interbreed and to produce fertile offspring.Most herds of llamas are maintained by the Indians of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. The llama is primarily a pack animal but is also used as a source of food, wool, hides, tallow for candles, and dried dung for fuel.

The largest of the lamoids, it averages 120 cm (47 inches) at the shoulder. A 113-kilogram (250-pound) llama can carry a load of 45–60 kg and average 25 to 30 km (15 to 20 miles) travel a day. The llama’s high thirst tolerance, endurance, and ability to subsist on a wide variety of forage makes it an important transport animal on the bleak Andean plateaus and mountains. The llama is a gentle animal, but, when overloaded or maltreated, it will lie down, hiss, spit and kick, and refuse to move.Llamas breed in the (Southern Hemispheric) late summer and fall, from November to May.

The gestation period lasts about 11 months, and the female gives birth to one young. Although usually white, the llama may be solid black or brown, or it may be white with black or brown markings.

Llamas are normally sheared every two years, each yielding about 3–3.5 kg of fibre. Llama fleece consists of the coarse guard hairs of the protective outer coat (about 20 percent) and the short, crimped (wavy) fibre of the insulating undercoat. The hair’s colour is usually variegated, generally in shades of brown, although there are some pure blacks and whites. Cleaning reduces the final yield of fleece to about 66–84 percent of the original weight.

Five interesting facts about llamas:

1. Llamas make excellent guards for herds of small animals. They are very social and will ‘adopt’ a group of sheep or goats as their own herd. Then they will protect the herd by chasing off coyotes and other predators.Llamas are smart.

2. They can distinguish between the neighbor’s dog and a predatory coyote.

3. Llamas are the camel’s hippie cousins. They belong to a group of animals called camelids that also includes alpacas. All camelids spit or stick out their tongue when they are annoyed.

4. One of the ways llamas communicate is by humming.

5. Llamas are diabetic — sort of. The OSU College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is using their herd of 30 llamas and alpacas to study how certain hormones affect blood sugar. Because the metabolism of llamas is very similar to that of a human diabetic, the results of this research may provide insight into human diabetes treatment.