Llama
By (Author) Helen Cowie
Reaktion Books
Reaktion Books
1st August 2017
1st August 2017
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
636.2966
Paperback
224
Width 135mm, Height 190mm
Known for their haughty demeanour, woolly charm, and propensity to spit when threatened, llamas have a rich and varied history. Since their domestication high in the Andes they have been sacrificed, farmed, smuggled, and petted. They have functioned at different times as luxury commodities, literary muses, and national symbols, and have served as beasts of burden, circus performers, and even golf caddies.
This book charts the history of llamas and their close relatives, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuas. Venerated by the Incas, llamas are still cherished in their native Peru and Bolivia, and remain central to Andean culture. After several unsuccessful acclimatisation attempts in the nineteenth century, llamas and alpacas have also become popular pets in Britain, North America, and Australia, where they are used for trekking, meat and wool production, and as therapy animals. Llama recounts the animal's colourful history and explores its presence in art, literature, and film.
Packed with llama drama and alpaca facts, Llama shows that there's much more to llamas than spitting.
"Llama beautifully weaves together the anthrozoology and cultural history of four South American camelids--the domesticated llamas and alpacas and their respective wild counterparts, the guanacos and vicuas--with their biology and evolution. From the use of camelids by indigenous peoples for wool, meat, and transport to these animals' modern-day participation as golf caddies, therapy animals, and wedding-day mascots in the United States, the narrative Cowie tells is at once sweeping and studded with compelling scholarly details."--Barbara J. King "Times Literary Supplement"
"Cowie's Llama is a very useful case study of the mania exhibited by Europeans and Euro- Americans and Oceanians for acclimatization projects, many of which have entailed unintended consequences. But llamas have been fairly benign as introduced species go. Wool is the main attraction, and still at a premium. But llamas, good-natured on the whole, can also be used as petting-zoo and therapy animals. And they are excellent in the role of guards. They can't do much to intruders except spit on them, but they are large enough to scare away coyotes and foxes, and their spit is nothing to be trifled with."--Tim Morris "lection"
Helen Cowie is Lecturer in History at the University of York. She is the author of Conquering Nature in Spain and its Empire, 1750-1850 (2011) and Exhibiting Animals in Nineteenth-century Britain: Empathy, Education, Entertainment (2014).