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Llama
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<p>The llama (<i>Lama glama</i>) is a domesticated <a href="/facts/South_America/PhrFEMk7">South American</a> <a href="/facts/Camelid/gFRWfvkX">camelid</a>, widely used as a <a href="/facts/List_of_meat_animals/WyMSANRk">meat</a> and <a href="/facts/Pack_animal/qcdJaRPH">pack animal</a> by <a href="/facts/Inca_empire/GjNowI6t">Andean cultures</a> since the <a href="/facts/Pre-Columbian_era/0Ntjleee">pre-Columbian era</a>. </p><p>Llamas are social animals and live with others as a <a href="/facts/Herd/czxLCvzS">herd</a>. Their <a href="/facts/Wool/AENKRTYl">wool</a> is soft and contains only a small amount of <a href="/facts/Lanolin/VyKnaor3">lanolin</a>. Llamas can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions. When using a pack, they can carry about 25 to 30% of their body weight for 8 to 13 <a href="/facts/Kilometre/hdQp79QE">km</a> (5–8 <a href="/facts/Mile/e22bY569">miles</a>). The name <i>llama</i> (also historically spelled "lama" or "glama") was adopted by <a href="/facts/European_colonization_of_the_Americas/1HImQual">European settlers</a> from <a href="/facts/Indigenous_people_in_Peru/VsedsNCr">native Peruvians</a>. </p><p>The ancestors of llamas are thought to have originated on the <a href="/facts/Great_Plains/LWPW30WU">Great Plains</a> of <a href="/facts/North_America/djNjCQIl">North America</a> about 40 million years ago and subsequently migrated to South America about three million years ago during the <a href="/facts/Great_American_Interchange/e8uuzTok">Great American Interchange</a>. By the end of the last <a href="/facts/Quaternary_glaciation/5H9xbBTt">ice age</a> (10,000–12,000 years ago), camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over seven million llamas and <a href="/facts/Alpaca/RPNA1y3K">alpacas</a> in South America. Some were imported to the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> and <a href="/facts/Canada/cWWFM8oc">Canada</a> late in the 20th century; their descendants now number more than 158,000 llamas and 100,000 alpacas. </p><p>In <a href="/facts/Aymara_people/5IBmDoTu">Aymara</a> mythology, llamas are important beings. The Heavenly Llama is said to drink water from the ocean and urinates as it rains. According to Aymara <a href="/facts/Eschatology/yRyvUt8B">eschatology</a>, llamas will return to the water springs and <a href="/facts/Pond/He6abhfJ">ponds</a> where they come from at the end of time. </p>