Llamas are the largest of the South American camelid family, weighing up to 200kg and standing approximately 1.25m at the shoulder. They were domesticated from their wild cousin - the guanaco - some 5000 years ago. Their ancestors inhabited the plains of North America and migrated south to the Andes about three million years ago.

Elegant and exotic, llamas are strong, intelligent and hardy – and they had to be. When the Spanish invaded South America in the sixteenth century they cleared the land and culled indigenous species such as the llama to make way for grazing cows. The llamas therefore were limited to only the most extreme areas of the continent where the Spanish cows could not exist – high up in the Andes where the grazing was poor, the weather extreme and the air thin. Had it not been for the robustness and adaptability of this most noble of animals, they may have become extinct at the hands of man.

Llamas have a gentle temperament, inquisitive nature, and expressive eyes that can seemingly bore deep into your soul. With their distinctive ‘banana’ shaped ears, they are found in a variety of colours from solid white to black and with varying shades and mixes of brown and grey.

Llamas normally live anywhere between 12 to 18 years, although some may live to be over 20, and there are numerous accounts of llamas living to 25-26 years.

Llamas are becoming increasingly popular in Britain as they are gentle, quiet, hardy and undemanding. They will live in harmony with other animals and many will protect smaller prey species such as chickens and sheep from predators.

Do llamas spit?

Not at people!

Just as dogs can bite and cats can scratch and horses can kick, so llamas can spit – but this is predominantly amongst themselves to maintain a pecking order and to maintain their own space.

The vast majority will only do so at humans in very rare and very particular circumstances – such as if they have been incorrectly reared (i.e. hand reared instead of left with their mother – in these scenarios the young llama grows up thinking that all humans are llamas, and therefore thinks it is okay to use normal llama specific behaviour such as spitting). Llamas can also spit if they are badly treated, or are put through situations that they find excessively stressful. Spitting is traditionally associated with ‘zoo llamas’. If we were confined to a zoo then we would probably start spitting too!

In summary it is really a much over-hyped characteristic, mostly found in some zoo or farm park situations where they are all too commonly hand-reared or over-handled as youngsters. It is usually irrelevant to owners’ and trekkers’ day-to-day experience of their llamas.