twovultures
Donor
We had a productive thread on this subject a few years ago, but after recently revisiting some old notes of mine, I thought I'd canvass some opinions to see how possible/plausible people would find such an event occurring, and if it did occur, how far some sort of llama pastoralism could spread. Note that this is NOT a question about prehistoric animals surviving the Pleistocene extinction-this is about the animal familiar to us IOTL being introduced to Mesoamerica some time after it's domestication 3500BC-2500BC IOTL.
First, we need to take a look at our furry little subject, the llama. She's quite a tough fellow, carrying packs across the Andes mountains at high altitudes and freezing temperatures, but she has a couple sensitivities. She doesn't like heat, and she doesn't like humidity. She can take one or the other, but both combined are very bad for her. American llama farmers use a rule of thumb-if the temperature in Fahrenheit and the % of humidity in the air is above 150, llamas are at 'high' risk of heat stress. If both combined are above 180, llamas are at 'extreme' risk of heat stress and in imminent peril of death. Solutions include providing shade, shearing all but 1-3 inches of their fiber off, wetting and then drying them, and providing them electric fans (available to modern farmers but not, presumably, prehistoric Native Americans)[1].
This would make the trip from Peru to Mesoamerica very difficult. Llamas in tropical climates will surely all die quickly, right? Well, they can survive (but presumably not thrive) in warm tropical conditions, it turns out. In late 1989, an American business magnate looking to cash in on a llama craze (Michael Jackson had a pet llama in the 80's-it was crazy) decided to send a cargo full of llamas and alpacas to North America. Due to quarantine regulations, he decided to put them in a quarantine station on the island of Antigua. This businessman's own heavy-handed treatment of the Antiguans and Barbudans, local political conflicts, and some misunderstandings and/or untruths about the quarantine station resulted in the llamas getting dumped on a 6-acre island in Farley Bay on the island of Antigua. From about 250 llamas dumped on the island, 130 survived for over a year-less than half, but this was over the course of a whole year where heat and ocean humidity made a very poor habitat for them. By providing some shade and fodder, local veterinarians were able to stabilize the herd [2].
Could llamas be transported to Mesoamerica across low tropical latitudes before they all die? According to some researchers, the capability to do so did exist in South America. Ecuador (itself not really a llama habitat in the tropical lowlands) was home to peoples who built large, seaworthy balsa rafts and probably did trade with Mesoamerica. The extent of their interactions with Mesoamerica is debatable-were they occasional visitors? Regular traders? Did they spend months in Mesoamerica trading and mining ore? We don't really know-but on a physical level, their rafts certainly could reach Mesoamerica in 6-8 weeks of travel [3]
Looking at some of the climate data for western Mexico from the weather forcasting company Foreca [4], there are places in what would have been western Mesoamerica where combined heat and humidity was below a llama-killing 180 but no places where it was below a llama-hurting 150. The southermost city I could find using that data where the llama heat index would regularly be below 150 (and so, presumably, allow llamas to breed without heat stroke destroying large parts of the herd) was Patzcuaro-an area that was within the Mesoamerican sphere, but at its very fringe. Llamas brought to a western Mesoamerican port (say, Manzanillo-160 on the llama heat index at its most hot and humid, according to Foreca) could in theory survive, and be brought to Patzcuaro where they could thrive, but there was no reason to do so IOTL. Ecuadorian sailors did not have a reason to sail south to Peru, pick up llamas, sail them up to Mexico (losing half or more of their cargo in the process) and then march them up into the northern fringe of the Mesoamerican highland for local people to breed.
I can think of one scenario where such an exchange could happen-let me know if you think it's plausible or too implausible, or if you have an alternate scenario where this could happen. My idea is that in a situation where pre-Columbian bronze tools are more common (they existed IOTL, but were limited) people from OTL's northern Peru may, for political reasons, decide to source tin from Mesoamerica rather than from the Altiplano of Bolivia (tin is common there but if the people don't want to trade or there's war, you have to look elsewhere). West Mexico has tin deposits, even though they're not abundant [5]. Diplomats and merchants from northern Peru looking to trade tin or get permission to mine for it in the highlands could bring llamas from Peru to western Mesoamerica as tribute. Since they're being brought as exotic animals rather than livestock, the fact that a lot will die en route isn't a problem-it's good in fact, since it keeps them rare. Llamas are gifted to Mesoamerican elites in or near Patzcuaro in a similar manner to how OTL's Ming emperor was gifted giraffes and antelopes from Africa. But unlike these wild animals, llamas are domesticated and successfully breed while under human control in the west Mexican highlands. The herd grows to the point where elites gift the animals to each eother and, eventually, common people, introducing llama pastoralism to Mesoamerica.
Sorry for the essay. I'm afraid I've gone down an autism/obsessiveness rabbit hole on this very bizarre and specific topic, and feel the need to throw out some thoughts into the void to see what other people think. Even if all you do is read this far, thank you for bearing with me!
[1]Baum, Karen and Evans, Norman. Llama Medical Management. International Llama Association Educational Brochure #4.
[2]Schanche, Don Environmental Castaways in Caribbean, Llamas Wait for Rescue. Los Angeles Times, August 21 1990.
[3]Dewan, Leslie and Hosler, Dorothy, Ancient Maritime Trade between Ecuador and Western Mexico. Ininet.org via GoogleScholar.
[4]Available at https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine-in-Mexico
[5]Foshag, William. Tin Deposits in Mexico. US Department of the Interior, 1942.
First, we need to take a look at our furry little subject, the llama. She's quite a tough fellow, carrying packs across the Andes mountains at high altitudes and freezing temperatures, but she has a couple sensitivities. She doesn't like heat, and she doesn't like humidity. She can take one or the other, but both combined are very bad for her. American llama farmers use a rule of thumb-if the temperature in Fahrenheit and the % of humidity in the air is above 150, llamas are at 'high' risk of heat stress. If both combined are above 180, llamas are at 'extreme' risk of heat stress and in imminent peril of death. Solutions include providing shade, shearing all but 1-3 inches of their fiber off, wetting and then drying them, and providing them electric fans (available to modern farmers but not, presumably, prehistoric Native Americans)[1].
This would make the trip from Peru to Mesoamerica very difficult. Llamas in tropical climates will surely all die quickly, right? Well, they can survive (but presumably not thrive) in warm tropical conditions, it turns out. In late 1989, an American business magnate looking to cash in on a llama craze (Michael Jackson had a pet llama in the 80's-it was crazy) decided to send a cargo full of llamas and alpacas to North America. Due to quarantine regulations, he decided to put them in a quarantine station on the island of Antigua. This businessman's own heavy-handed treatment of the Antiguans and Barbudans, local political conflicts, and some misunderstandings and/or untruths about the quarantine station resulted in the llamas getting dumped on a 6-acre island in Farley Bay on the island of Antigua. From about 250 llamas dumped on the island, 130 survived for over a year-less than half, but this was over the course of a whole year where heat and ocean humidity made a very poor habitat for them. By providing some shade and fodder, local veterinarians were able to stabilize the herd [2].
Could llamas be transported to Mesoamerica across low tropical latitudes before they all die? According to some researchers, the capability to do so did exist in South America. Ecuador (itself not really a llama habitat in the tropical lowlands) was home to peoples who built large, seaworthy balsa rafts and probably did trade with Mesoamerica. The extent of their interactions with Mesoamerica is debatable-were they occasional visitors? Regular traders? Did they spend months in Mesoamerica trading and mining ore? We don't really know-but on a physical level, their rafts certainly could reach Mesoamerica in 6-8 weeks of travel [3]
Looking at some of the climate data for western Mexico from the weather forcasting company Foreca [4], there are places in what would have been western Mesoamerica where combined heat and humidity was below a llama-killing 180 but no places where it was below a llama-hurting 150. The southermost city I could find using that data where the llama heat index would regularly be below 150 (and so, presumably, allow llamas to breed without heat stroke destroying large parts of the herd) was Patzcuaro-an area that was within the Mesoamerican sphere, but at its very fringe. Llamas brought to a western Mesoamerican port (say, Manzanillo-160 on the llama heat index at its most hot and humid, according to Foreca) could in theory survive, and be brought to Patzcuaro where they could thrive, but there was no reason to do so IOTL. Ecuadorian sailors did not have a reason to sail south to Peru, pick up llamas, sail them up to Mexico (losing half or more of their cargo in the process) and then march them up into the northern fringe of the Mesoamerican highland for local people to breed.
I can think of one scenario where such an exchange could happen-let me know if you think it's plausible or too implausible, or if you have an alternate scenario where this could happen. My idea is that in a situation where pre-Columbian bronze tools are more common (they existed IOTL, but were limited) people from OTL's northern Peru may, for political reasons, decide to source tin from Mesoamerica rather than from the Altiplano of Bolivia (tin is common there but if the people don't want to trade or there's war, you have to look elsewhere). West Mexico has tin deposits, even though they're not abundant [5]. Diplomats and merchants from northern Peru looking to trade tin or get permission to mine for it in the highlands could bring llamas from Peru to western Mesoamerica as tribute. Since they're being brought as exotic animals rather than livestock, the fact that a lot will die en route isn't a problem-it's good in fact, since it keeps them rare. Llamas are gifted to Mesoamerican elites in or near Patzcuaro in a similar manner to how OTL's Ming emperor was gifted giraffes and antelopes from Africa. But unlike these wild animals, llamas are domesticated and successfully breed while under human control in the west Mexican highlands. The herd grows to the point where elites gift the animals to each eother and, eventually, common people, introducing llama pastoralism to Mesoamerica.
Sorry for the essay. I'm afraid I've gone down an autism/obsessiveness rabbit hole on this very bizarre and specific topic, and feel the need to throw out some thoughts into the void to see what other people think. Even if all you do is read this far, thank you for bearing with me!
[1]Baum, Karen and Evans, Norman. Llama Medical Management. International Llama Association Educational Brochure #4.
[2]Schanche, Don Environmental Castaways in Caribbean, Llamas Wait for Rescue. Los Angeles Times, August 21 1990.
[3]Dewan, Leslie and Hosler, Dorothy, Ancient Maritime Trade between Ecuador and Western Mexico. Ininet.org via GoogleScholar.
[4]Available at https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine-in-Mexico
[5]Foshag, William. Tin Deposits in Mexico. US Department of the Interior, 1942.
