Editing Llama (section)

== History of domestication==
[[File:Lombards Museum 005 bis.jpg|right|thumb|Another Moche sculpture, dated to 100–300 AD (Early Intermediate Period) from the Lombards Museum]]
[[File:Chancay - Llama Effigy - Walters 20092049.jpg|left|thumb|This sculpture, originating from the Chancay Valley and adjacent Chillón Drainage region (Late Intermediate Period), captures the llama's natural inquisitiveness.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= [[The Walters Art Museum]]
 |url= http://art.thewalters.org/detail/80204
 |title= Llama Effigy}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]]

=== Pre-Incan cultures ===
Scholar Alex Chepstow-Lusty has argued that the switch from a [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle to widespread [[agriculture]] was only possible because of the use of llama [[feces|dung]] as [[fertilizer]].<ref>Anning, Caroline. (22 May 2011) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13439093 BBC News – Inca success in Peruvian Andes 'thanks to llama dung']. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on 21 August 2011.</ref>

The [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] people frequently placed llamas and their parts in the burials of important people as offerings or provisions for the afterlife.<ref>Berrin, Katherine & [[Larco Museum]]. ''The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera.'' New York: [[Thames & Hudson]], 1997 {{ISBN|0-500-01802-2}}.</ref> The Moche of [[pre-Columbian]] [[Peru]] depicted llamas quite realistically in their ceramics.

=== Inca Empire ===
In the [[Inca Empire]], llamas were the only beasts of burden, and many of the people dominated by the Inca had long traditions of llama herding. For the Inca nobility, the llama was symbolic, and llama figures were often buried with the dead.<ref name=Inca_Culture>
{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.nationalgeographic.com/inca/inca_culture_4.html
 |work        = Inca culture
 |title       = Little Llamas
 |date        = 10 October 2006
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060907054938/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/inca/inca_culture_4.html
 |archive-date = 7 September 2006
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>
In South America, llamas are still used as beasts of burden, as well as for the production of [[Fibre|fiber]] and [[meat]].<ref name=Other_Culture>
{{cite web
 |url=https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/7086258/PDF
 |author1=Jean Larson|author2=Judith Ho
 |title=Information Resources on the South American Camelids: Llamas, Alpacas, Guanacos, and Vicunas 1943–2006
 |date=25 June 2007
|url-status=live
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502005035/http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/llama.htm
 |archive-date=2 May 2014
}}</ref>

The [[Inca]] deity [[Urcuchillay]] was depicted in the form of a multicolored llama.<ref>{{cite book|last= D'Altroy|first= Terence N.|title= The Incas|series= The People of America|publisher= [[Blackwell Publishing]]|location= [[Oxford]]|isbn= 978-0-631-17677-0|page= [https://archive.org/details/incasthepeopleso00tere/page/149 149]|chapter= The Inca Pantheon|year= 2002|chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/incasthepeopleso00tere/page/149}}</ref>

[[Carl Troll]] has argued that the large numbers of llamas found in the southern Peruvian highlands were an essential factor in the rise of the [[Inca Empire]].<ref name=Gade2016>{{cite book |last=Gade |first=Daniel |date=2016 |title=Spell of the Urubamba: Anthropogeographical Essays on an Andean Valley in Space and Time |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319208480#aboutBook |chapter=Urubamba Verticality: Reflections on Crops and Diseases |page=86 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-20849-7 }}</ref> It is worth considering the maximum extent of the Inca Empire roughly coincided with the most significant distribution of [[alpaca]]s and llamas in Pre-Hispanic America.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hardoy |first=Jorge Henríque |date=1973 |title=Pre-Columbian Cities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbQJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|page=24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0802703804 }}</ref> The link between the Andean [[biome]]s of [[Puna grassland|puna]] and [[páramo]], llama [[pastoralism]] and the Inca state is a matter of research.<ref name=Gade1996>{{cite journal |last1=Gade |first1=Daniel W. |date=1996 |title=Carl Troll on Nature and Culture in the Andes (Carl Troll über die Natur und Kultur in den Anden)  |journal=[[Erdkunde]] |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=301–316 |doi=10.3112/erdkunde.1996.04.02 }}</ref>

=== Spanish Empire ===
[[File:Guanacos-llamas-el-primero-imagen-en-europa-1553.jpg|thumb|left|The first image of llamas in Europe, 1553]]
One of the main uses for llamas at the time of the [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|Spanish conquest]] was to bring down ore from the mines in the mountains.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/show/episode2.html|work=PBS|title=Guns, Germs & Steel. The Show: Episode Two|date=12 April 2007|author=Jared Diamond}}</ref> Gregory de Bolivar estimated that in his day, as many as 300,000 were employed in the [[transport]] of produce from the [[Potosí]] mines alone, but since the introduction of [[horse]]s, [[mule]]s, and [[donkey]]s, the importance of the llama as a beast of burden has greatly diminished.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=https://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/variables/llamas.html
 |work=PBS
 |title=Guns, Germs & Steel. The story of&nbsp;... Llamas
 |date=12 April 2007
|author=Jared Diamond}}</ref>

According to [[Juan Ignacio Molina]], the Dutch captain [[Joris van Spilbergen]] observed the use of [[chilihueque|hueques]] (possibly a llama type) by native [[Mapuche]]s of [[Mocha Island]] as [[plough|plow animals]] in 1614.<ref>{{cite book|author=Juan Bautista Ignacio Molina|title=The geographical, natural and civil history of Chili, tr. by an American gentleman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4oIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA15|access-date=22 August 2011|year=1808|pages=15–16|volume =II}}</ref>

In Chile [[chilihueque|hueque]], populations declined towards extinction in the 16th and 17th century being replaced by European livestock.<ref name=bona/> The causes of its extinction are not clear.<ref name=bona>{{cite journal |last1=Bonacic |first1=Cristián |title=Características biológicas y productivas de los camélidos sudamericanos |journal=Avances en Ciencias Veterinarias |date=1991 |volume=6 |issue=2 |doi=10.5354/0716-260x.1991.4642|doi-access=|language=es}}</ref> However, it is known that the introduction of sheep caused some competition among both domestic species.<ref name=Torrejonetal2004/> Anecdotal evidence of the mid-17th century shows that both species coexisted and suggests that there were many more sheep than hueques.<ref name=Torrejonetal2004/> The decline of hueques reached a point in the late 18th century when only the Mapuche from [[Mariquina, Chile|Mariquina]] and Huequén next to [[Angol]] raised the animal.<ref name=Torrejonetal2004>{{cite journal |last1=Torrejón |first1=Fernando |last2=Cisternas |first2=Marco|last3=Araneda |first3=Alberto |date=2004 |title=Efectos ambientales de la colonización española desde el río Maullín al archipiélago de Chiloé, sur de Chile |trans-title=Environmental effects of the spanish colonization from de Maullín river to the Chiloé archipelago, southern Chile |journal=[[Revista Chilena de Historia Natural]] |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=661–677 |doi=10.4067/S0716-078X2004000400009 |language=es |doi-access=free }}</ref>
{{clear}}

=== United States ===

Llamas were first imported into the US in the late 1800s as zoo exhibits. Restrictions on importation of livestock from South America due to [[hoof and mouth disease]], combined with lack of commercial interest, resulted in the number of llamas staying low until the late 20th century. In the 1970s, interest in llamas as livestock began to grow, and the number of llamas increased as farmers bred and produced an increasing number of animals.<ref>{{cite web | title=History of Llamas North America | url=http://www.llama-llama.com/text/history-na.html |work=Buckhorn Llama Co.}}</ref> Both the price and number of llamas in the US climbed rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s. With little market for llama fiber or meat in the US and the value of guard llamas limited, the primary value in llamas was in breeding more animals, a classic sign of a [[speculative bubble]] in agriculture. By 2002, there were almost 145,000 llamas in the US, according to the [[US Department of Agriculture]], and animals sold for as much as $220,000. However, the lack of any end market for the animals resulted in a crash in both llama prices and the number of llamas; the [[Great Recession]] further dried up investment capital, and the number of llamas in the US began to decline as fewer animals were bred and older animals died of old age. By 2017, the number of llamas in the US had dropped below 40,000.<ref>{{cite news |last=McCausland |first=Phil |title=Agriculture census finds that llamas are disappearing. What happened? | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/llamas-disappearing-across-united-states-n994181 |work=NBC News | date=14 April 2019 |access-date=23 January 2020}}</ref> A similar speculative bubble was experienced with the closely related [[alpaca]], which burst shortly after the llama bubble.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cima |first=Rosie |title=When the Great Alpaca Bubble Burst |work=Priceonomics |date=14 August 2015 | url=https://priceonomics.com/when-the-great-alpaca-bubble-burst/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Barnett |first=Kaitlin Bell |title=Alpacas: Lovable Lawnmowers No More |work=Modern Farmer |url=https://modernfarmer.com/2014/11/alpaca-industry-matures-growing-pains/ |date=6 November 2014 |access-date=23 January 2020}}</ref>