By
Cathy Spalding
www.gentlespiritllamas.com
www.gentlespiritalpacas.com
Trainability
How Do Llamas and Alpacas Compare?
QUESTION:
I am interested in the relative
trainability of llamas as
against alpacas? The latter
always seem very highly-strung
to my thinking, though I’ve
had little to do with them.
Terry
Hi Terry,
I have been fortunate to
have the opportunity to work
with hundreds of llamas and
alpacas across North America,
Europe and New Zealand. Llamas
and alpacas are different
in a number of ways and yet
they are very similar, too.
It has been my ongoing experience
that it is not so much about
whether one is a llama or
an alpaca but rather seems
to have more to do with their
individual personality and
their personal history in
interacting with humans. The
intelligence level for both
llamas and alpacas runs the
same with some being very
bright, some very slow and
a whole lot in the average
range. Understanding the overall
general behaviors of llamas
and alpacas before working
with either of them is very
important information that
provides a good basis for
how to proceed. One of the
biggest differences
I’ve found between
working with a llama or an
alpaca is not so much about
the animal but about our human
approach. While an unruly
grown alpaca can often be
manhandled, it is quite another
thing to take that approach
with a full grown unruly llama.
As a result, we are somewhat
forced to take the time to
learn how to otherwise handle
llamas. Alpacas often do not
receive that respect in approach
causing them to react in fearful
protest. Given they often
appear naturally a bit more
reactive, we then seem to
label them as spitty, dumb
and difficult. If a llama
will not walk from his stall
to the show ring, you simply
don’t go. If an alpaca
refuses to walk—and
I have honestly personally
seen this—no worries,
just pick them up and drop
them down at the entrance
to the show ring. There are
clearly differences in the
overall personality between
llamas and alpacas but that
does not make alpacas dumb
as rocks, just different.
I have both llamas and alpacas
here at my farm. While the
majority have been quite reasonable
to train, there has been the
one llama or the one alpaca
wherein their training seems
to become an out of body experience.
As a side note, I have judged
a number of
4H events and worked with
youth for many years. In the
last few years I have been
amazed to find that the participating
alpacas have actually been
more attentive, focused and
skilled than most of the participating
llamas. That is not to say
alpacas are better than llamas,
it is just an experience shared
to illustrate that alpacas
can be amazing animals, too.
I feel to say that comparing
llamas and alpacas seems a
bit unfair. Though both are
in the camelid family, they
are not the same animal. Seems
perhaps a bit like comparing
a mastiff to a border collie.
Both are dogs with similarities
and yet, there are differences
in their behaviors and their “job” or “end
use.” Respectful understanding
of their unique personalities
and behavioral traits can
make the difference in whether
or not we might consider one
or the other difficult, dumb
or truly amazing.
