Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found: A Book of Zoology for Boys

by Mayne Reid

The callosities upon the limbs and chest, and the hump on the back, have caused much perplexity among naturalists; but, perhaps, their purpose may be explained. They seem to bear some relation to the necessities of the animal, considered as the slave or man. The callosities are the points on which it kneels down to receive its burden. The hump, which is a fatty secretion, is known to be absorbed into the system when the animal is pinched for food, thus forming a provision against the casualties to which it is subject in a life evidently ordained to be passed in the desert. Add to this, that its singularly formed stomach renders it capable of containing a supply of water suitable to long journeys, and we have ample evidence of the purpose for which this singular and useful creature was designed.

The camel furnishes the Arab with flesh and milk, of its hair he weaves clothing, and even tents; his belt and sandals are the produce of its hide, and its dung affords him fuel.

The hair of the Persian camel is held in the highest estimation. There are three kinds of it—black, red, and grey; the black being of most value, and the grey fetching only half the price of the red.

But all such uses are mere trifles when compared with the value of these animals as beasts of burden—“ships of the desert,” as they have been poetically named. By means of them, communication is kept up between distant countries separated by large tracts of frightful deserts, which, without some such aid, would be entirely impassable by man.

We arrive at the Llamas, or camel sheep, as the old Spanish colonists used to call them.

These animals are natives of South America, and their range is limited. They are found only on the high plateaus of the Andes; through which they extend, from New Granada on the north to Chili on the south, though one species ranges even to the Straits of Magellan. In all there are four distinct species of them—the Llama proper, the Paca or Alpaca, the Guanaco, and the Vicuña.

The Llama and Paca are both held in a state of domestication; the former as a beast of burden, and the latter for its hair or wool. On the other hand, the Guanacos and Vicuñas are wild animals, and are eagerly hunted by the mountain tribes of Indians for their flesh and skins, but in the case of the vicuña for the very fine wool which it yields, and which commands an enormous price in the markets of Peru.

The Cordilleras of the Andes, below the line of perpetual snow, is the region inhabited by these creatures. In the hot countries, lying lower, they do not thrive; and even die in journeys made to the tropic coast lands. The wild species keep together in herds—sometimes of one or two hundred individuals—feeding on a sort of rushy grass or reed—called yea by the natives—and they scarce ever drink, so long as they can pasture on green herbage. They have the singular habit of going to a particular spot to drop their dung, which resembles that of goats or sheep; and this habit often costs them their lives, since the excrement points out to the hunter their place of resort. They keep a careful look-out against any danger, usually taking care to place old males as sentinels of the flock, who give warning of the approach of an enemy. When startled they run swiftly, but soon halt, stand gazing back, and then gallop on as before.

During summer they frequent the sides of the mountains; but, as winter approaches, they descend to the high table plains, and browse upon the natural meadows found there. They are captured in various ways. The Indians take them by first surrounding the herd, and then driving it within enclosures constructed for the purpose. They are also run down by dogs, trained to hunt them by the mountaineers of Chili, in which country they are found wild in great numbers. During the chase they frequently turn upon their pursuer, utter a wild shrill neighing, and then resume their rapid flight.

The Vicuñas—which are the smallest of the four kinds, and also the prettiest—are captured by the Indians in a still more singular manner. A large tract of the plains is enclosed merely by a cord, stretched horizontally upon stakes, of about four feet in height. To the cord are attached pieces of cloth, feathers, or coloured rags of any kind. Into this feeble enclosure the herd of vicuñas is driven; and, strange to say, the frightened animals will permit themselves to be crowded together, and killed with stones rather than leap over the cord.