Llamas (animal species)
| Llamas | ||||||||||||
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Llamas ( Lama glama ) |
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| lama | ||||||||||||
| G. Cuvier , 1800 | ||||||||||||
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The lamas ( lama ) are a genus of mammals that, together with the vicuna, form the genus group of the New World camels (Lamini) within the camel family (Camelidae). Llamas occur naturally only in South America .
Outwardly, New World camels differ from Old World camels in that they do not have a hump and are smaller in size. The animals of the genus Lama reach a head-trunk length of 120 to 220 centimeters and a weight of 55 to 150 kilograms.
Traditionally, the genus of llamas is divided into two types:
The guanaco represents the wild species of this genus, while the lama is the domesticated form, the keeping and breeding of which began 4000 to 5000 years ago. Previously, the alpaca was another species, but this is no longer the case, as DNA tests have shown that it does not come from the lama, but from the vicuna . Since the four species of the New World camels can be crossed with one another without restriction and the lines have mixed up again and again, the exact origins are difficult to determine. The two domesticated forms are often counted as separate species, but if you use the modern concept of species, this can hardly be maintained. Accordingly, more recent classifications combine all three representatives into a single species.
literature
- Bernhard Grzimek : Grzimeks animal life . Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-8289-1603-1 (13 volumes).
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
