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Suri Llamas Are "For Real"
by Jane C. Wheeler
It is often said that suri llamas are hybrids, the product
of llama x alpaca crosses, but DNA analysis has confirmed
the existence of "unhybridized" suri llamas, and
the study of pre-conquest mummified llamas has shown that
they existed prior to the Spanish conquest.
Origins
The llama (Lama glama) and alpaca (Vicugna pacos)
are domestic descendants, respectively, of the wild guanaco
(Lama guanicoe) and vicuña (Vicugna vicugna).
Their ancestors originated in North America approximately
40 to 45 million years ago, but did not spread into South
America until a land bridge between the two continents formed
some three million years ago. The earliest known guanaco and
vicuña fossils are found in the lowlands east of the
Andes in deposits dating to two million years ago, but these
species did not move into the high Andean ecosystem until
the last Pleistocene glacial advance 12,000 to 14,000 years
ago.
Today, two subspecies of guanaco and two of vicuña
survive, located to the north and south of an extremely arid
region at 19-to-27 degrees south. Both northern subspecies,
Lama guanicoe cacsilensis and Vicugna vicugna mensalis,
have been shown by DNA testing to be the ancestors of the
domestic llama and alpaca respectively, while the two southern
subspecies, Lama guanicoe guanicoe and Vicugna vicugna
vicugna were never domesticated. This information places
the origin of domestication in the central Andean highlands,
confirming evidence obtained from the study of archaeological
remains.
Domestication begins
Direct evidence of the domestication process is available
in the organic remains of South American camelids recovered
during archaeological excavations at sites in the high Andes.
The huemul deer, vicuña and guanaco, have inhabited
this region since the last glacial advance and were the prey
of early hunters. At one site, Telarmachay Rock Shelter, located
at 4,420 meters above sea level in central Peru, a 9,000-year-long
record of human occupation was recovered. The first inhabitants
were generalist hunters taking vicuña, guanaco and
huemul deer equally, but through time their descendents came
to specialize in hunting the wild camelids.
Eventually, they began to control and finally domesticate
them. Evidence of this process is recorded in the massive
increase of bones from neonatal mortalities, as stress, disease
and predators attacked the most vulnerable segment of the
captive vicuña and guanaco herds. Through time changes
in the genome occurred due to inbreeding in the small, captive
population, including modification of the incisors with the
adult domestic form (alpaca) retaining the milk tooth pattern
of the wild ancestor (vicuña). The appearance of both
domestic alpaca and llama at Telarmachay is dated 6,000 to
7,000 years ago, but because the evidence comes from bone
remains, nothing is known of the physical appearance of these
early animals. Additional evidence from sites in Argentina
and Chile suggests the possibility of multiple domestication
events for the llama.
Evolving husbandry
Llama and alpaca herding spread from the high Andes to lower
elevation valleys and into northern Chile 3,800 years ago,
and was established along the Pacific coast of Peru 1,500
years later. Textile remains suggest the possible appearance
of specialized fiber producing animals as early as 3,000 years
ago, but lack of preservation in the highlands makes this
difficult to determine accurately
Llama caravans led by warrior-traders provided support for
development of the first high elevation Andean city at Pucara
almost 1,000 years ago and continued to play a fundamental
role in development of Andean civilization. Under Inca rule,
camelid herds were owned by the state, the church, communities
and individuals, and rigorous breeding standards were maintained.
Coat color was of particular importance in defining appropriate
ritual status for sacrificial animals, and high quality fiber
was essential for state-controlled textile production. Spanish
taxation records reveal that within a century of contact up
to 90 percent of the llama and alpaca herds had disappeared,
and it is likely that a similar fraction of the wild vicuña
and guanaco populations may also have vanished. The impact
of such devastating loss on the vicuña and guanaco
genomes is slowly being documented, but to date, similar research
on the llama and alpaca genomes is lacking.
Pre-conquest Breeding
 Located
in the extremely arid Moquegua valley of southern Peru, only
1,000 meters above sea level, the site of El Yaral would seem
an unlikely location for rearing llama and alpaca. Yet the
discovery of 26 perfectly preserved, naturally desiccated
llama and alpaca mummies at this site has provided evidence
that the pre-Inca Chiribaya culture herders (A.D. 700-1300)
who resided there were expert breeders.
They lived in cane-walled houses constructed on elongated
residential terraces built into a barren hillside overlooking
a natural corral watered by the Osmore River. Each structure
was subdivided into two to eight rooms used for storage, cooking,
preparation of chicha (a fermented maize beverage),
sleeping and ritual activities. Compacted floors of fine gravel,
sand and clay covered offerings of guinea pigs, coca leaves,
thread wrapped sticks, turquoise and marine shell beads, small
silver plaques, feathers, fish, maize and burnt charcoal,
as well as sacrificial llamas and alpacas.
These mummified animals had been killed by a forceful blow
between the ears and rapidly interred. Almost all were in
cush position with the neck twisted around and the
head resting on the back. Only a few showed evidence that
rigor mortis had set in before they were interred below the
house floors. The sand, in which they were buried, and the
extreme aridity of the climate produced exceptionally preserved
specimens.
Mummies revealed details
Seeing the mummies for the first time was a revelation. After
years of staring at bones and trying to reconstruct the past
from fragments, to see at last the animals' actual appearance
was amazing. It took a very long time for the reality to sink
in and even longer to realize what I was really seeing.
At first, I was afraid to touch the mummies for fear of losing
invaluable information. But, as it turned out, an archeologist
described the first one I examined as coming from a disturbed
context and thus having little value. Nonetheless, upon analysis
it became evident that the apparent jumble of bones and fiber
actually pertained to a single six-month-old brown llama (number
272), which had been sacrificed and then subdivided into five
complex ritual packages prior to burial. The two hind limbs
were divided at the pelvis and the fiber was shorn down to
the patella but left attached to the lower limbs. The skin
and muscles above the patella were removed and the femurs
transposed and inverted. The left femur was placed head down
on the fiber of the right leg, and the right femur was placed
in the same position on the fiber of the left.
Below the patellae the legs were totally flexed so the feet
rested along the tibia. Then they were rolled as a single
unit in the opposite direction to the fiber-wrapped femur
to create an S-shaped package. Documentation of the oppositions
found in the two packages -- fiber with and without hide attached;
right and left femurs switched; normal anatomical position
of the switched femurs inverted; bones with and without meat;
and wrapping of the package in two opposing directions --
was almost lost because the materials were thought to be disturbed.
A similar ritual called kuti continues to be practiced by
herders up to the present for the purpose of reversing bad
luck by reversing the natural order of the elements contained
in ritual offerings. The unexpected twists and hidden meanings
preserved in llama mummy 272 only served to emphasize the
unique value of the El Yaral mummies, leaving me with a greater
respect for the secrets they held and even more worried about
how to discover them.
Revising traditions and knowledge
Over the years, we have examined the physical appearance,
fiber quality, health status, internal and external parasites,
and evidence of rituals associated with the mummies themselves.
We have compiled information about breeding practices through
the analysis of faunal remains from Chiribaya living and burial
sites. The secrets the mummies have revealed require a revision
of many traditional beliefs and textbook accounts.
We now know that the Chiribaya herders were accomplished
breeders, successfully rearing both high quality llamas and
alpacas on the southern coast of Peru between 900 and 1,300
years ago. Prior to this study, it was generally believed
that alpacas and llamas were never reared on the coast.
We also know that the Chiribaya herders may have exerted such
intense selection on their herds as to produce alpacas and
llamas with physical characteristics approaching breed standards.
The alpaca fleeces revealed uniform fiber fineness with two
groups at 17.9 +/- 1.0 and 23.6 +/- 1.9 microns -- both significantly
finer relative to most of today's animals -- while the llama
fleeces averaged 22.4 +/- 2.3 microns and included both single
and double-coated animals.
The existence of fine fiber-producing, single-coated llama
mummies contradicts the traditional idea that llamas were
only reared for meat production and use as pack animals, making
no contribution to fiber production.
One unshorn, uniform red-brown male llama mummy, approximately
two years of age had 14- to 16-centimeter-long lustrous fiber
and a fleece diameter of 21.1 +/- 3.2 microns. This mummy
documents the pre-conquest existence of suri llamas. The fiber
quality of this single individual so impressed one expert
that he placed an order for two tons before learning that
the sample came from a single ancient specimen!
Unfortunately we have not yet been able to obtain ancient
DNA from the mummies, though we are still trying. Nonetheless,
our analysis of contemporary suri llamas from Argentina has
documented the existence of "nonhybridized" specimens,
indicating that suri llamas are indeed "real" llamas,
not the product of crossing between llamas and alpacas. Moreover,
the El Yaral suri llama mummy suggests the suri llama is likely
an ancient breed.
The evidence leads me to conclude that suri breeders in the
United States are privileged to have such beautiful and rare
animals and should feel a special responsibility for the preservation
and propagation of the breed.
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