Llama
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Llama. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
la'ma, a beast of burden in the Andean region. The Ilama is the American representative of the camel, and, like the camel, it is known only as a domestic animal. It is supposed to be descended from the guanaco, a smaller animal. Wild guanacos are very watchful and shy. They live in flocks at great heights on the mountains, and seldom come down to the plains in search of food. The llama has no hump on its back. The toes are divided completely and are adapted to traveling in the mountains rather than on sandy plains. The llama is more slender and deerlike than a camel. The tame llama is somewhat stouter and heavier than its wild ancestors. It stands about three feet high at the shoulder, carrying its head at a height of five feet. Llamas are naturally of a pale, reddish brown color, but, like horses, undergo variation of color in domestication. Brown, black, and gray colors are common, with some mottled, some piebald, and a few white specimens. The llama is trained to carry burdens. Long strings of llamas are used in freighting across the Andes. The llama can carry only from 90 to 120 pounds, but it can climb rugged mountain sides where horses could not keep a footing. A llama train makes about twelve miles a day. The flesh of the llama is good for food. The hair is much used for rough clothing by the Indians. Llamas require little or no care. At night they are put into a pen; they sleep winter and summer without covering, and get their own food in the mountains at all times of the year. The llama is to the native of the Andes what the camel is to the Arabian and the reindeer to the Lapp. But with the introduction of railroads, roads, and bridges, the day of the llama as a beast of burden is passing away. See Alpaca ; Camel
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or LAMA, an ungulate of the family Camelidæ; habitat, the S. parts of Peru. It is larger than the guanaco, usually white, sometimes spotted with brown or black and sometimes entirely black. In size it is smaller, and in general form lighter than the camels, standing about three feet at the shoulder; no dorsal dump. Feet narrow, toes widely separated, each with a i he pre distinct pad; hairy covering long and woolly. The earliest account of this animal is that of DeZarate, treasurergeneral of Peru, in 1544. The llama is only known in a domesticated state, and is still used as a beast of burden. Remains of llamas have been found in the Pleistocene deposits of the Rocky Mountains and in Central America.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's guess in 1910 that the llama is "descended from the guanaco" was confirmed by DNA work published in 2001, which traced the llama to the guanaco and the alpaca to the vicuña rather than to the guanaco as some had argued. Aiton's other forecast, that "the day of the llama as a beast of burden is passing away," proved only half right: trucks and railways did take over long-distance freight, but several million llamas are still kept in the Andes, with Bolivia rather than Collier's "S. parts of Peru" holding the largest herds. Since the 1980s llamas have also been exported in quantity to North America, Europe and Australia, where they are bred for fibre, for trekking and as guard animals set among sheep flocks. Collier's note that fossil llamas turn up in Pleistocene deposits of the Rocky Mountains points to what is now standard: the whole camel family arose in North America and spread south before dying out in its homeland.
Written for this edition, 2026.