Llamas are a South American beast of burden with a soft woolly fleece. They stand 1 to 1.2m at the back and 1.5 to 2m at the head, weigh 135 to 200kg and live 25 years. Llamas have a long graceful neck, erect ears, large doelike eyes and a keen sense of hearing and smell. The upper lip is cleft with only lower teeth in the front and upper and lower grinding molars in the back. Llamas can be white, black, beige, brown or any combination of these.
Llamas are ruminants with three stomachs.
They have padded feet with two toes covered by a hard nail. Other exotic animals include South American humpless camels, guanacos, alpacas and African pygmy goats. They are mainly kept in the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland. Their ancestors are from the Andean highlands so llamas are well suited to colder climates and able to adapt to any climate or altitude. By evolving at higher altitudes llamas have a large lung capacity and an ability to use oxygen in the blood more efficiently than other animals.