Emperor Valley Zoo welcomes 6 Llamas

It is the first time that the zoo has acquired llamas which are native to the south American Andean mountains. The six animals were born in captivity at the safari enterprise Nature Park in Boerne, Texas.

Lutchmedial said that the animals, between one to two years, “are accustom to our type of weather” so they should have no problem adjusting to the local climate. The animals were acquired at a cost of Us$20,000 inclusive of transportation costs, which included travelling by trailer overland from Texas to Miami, Florida and by air from Miami to Trinidad.

At present they are without names, but eventually, he said, they would be named, most likely, through a naming competition as has been done in the past. The sure-footed llamas are used as beasts of burden around mountainous terrain.

“They manage to fetch loads in rough terrain very well,” Lutchmedial said. There is no plan, he said, for anyone to ride them. However, in the same way that the giraffes are hand fed, people will be given an opportunity to feed them. They can be found at the upper end of the zoo.

The llamas are the south American relative of the camel, but unlike the camel they have no hump on the back. The llamas, he said, “have two wild relatives - the guanacos and
the vicunas - all native to the Andean mountains. The llamas are the only domesticated of the three species.