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Llama, sometimes rendered lama in the 1900s, is a word used by the Peruvians to designate one of a small group of closely associated animals, which, before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, were the only domesticated ungulates of the country. They were kept not only for their value as beasts of burden, but also for their flesh, hides, and wool. In fact, llamas were used in place of the horse, the ox, the goat, and the sheep of the Old World. The word is now mainly restricted to one particular species or variety of the group, and sometimes used in a generic sense to cover the whole. Llamas are seeing increasing use in North America as fiber producing animals and as guard animals for sheep herds, which they protect from coyote attacks.
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