Danny first came into the world on a somewhat cold and snowy winter day - December 26, 2007 in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. Danny is a grey and white male llama. We found him the day after he had been born. We were driving the small tractor around doing chores when I looked over at the field where our female llamas are and noticed what I first thought was small deer crossing the field. After really looking at it I realized it was a baby llama! We were very surprised because we weren't expecting any babies during the winter. We had received some more female llamas a few months before to add to our herd and had been told that they weren't pregnant, but obviously one of them was.
When we went into the field to check him out he was very obviously with the horses and not with the llamas. In fact, it looked like my quarterhorse gelding was protecting him and one of our Standardbred mares was anxiously looking on. When we tried to reunite him with the llama herd the mare circled the llamas whickering anxiously for him - just as if he was her foal. We think that he was probably born in the afternoon - evening of December 26, the horses took up with him the morning of the 27th and then we found him in the afternoon.
We spent the afternoon trying to figure out who his mother was, but no female claimed him, so we took him in with us. This was very odd behaviour for the females and not one we have ever encountered before. In fact, they are generally so protective of their babies that we can't even get close until their six months old! We weren't even sure if we would be able to keep him alive but here he is a month later and he continues to do well! He sure is a fighter. So this is going to be his story.
No comments:
Post a Comment