I’m babysitting a farm that has three horses, two llamas and a miniature donkey. I drop the hay from the loft into the paddock below, then I go down the stairs and through the barn to the arena which acts as a LARGE run-in shed for the animals. I was assured that while the critters were eating they would continue to eat and not come into the arena so that I can muck it out. This plan worked for four days. Yesterday, day five, the dark-coloured llama came into the arena…sneakily…and tried to walk right up to me. I didn’t hear the llama until it was three feet away. The wheelbarrow was between me and the animal. I kept it that way. The reason I noticed the llama was: it made this clicking sound with its teeth.
Well, I asked it to leave the arena. It stepped closer. I raised my pitchfork above my head (figured if I were taller than the llama it might listen to me)…this didn’t work. The llama tracked my every move so I aborted the muck-out and, keeping the wheelbarrow between me and the creature, I exited the arena.
My question is: what’s the llama trying to communicate?
The owner did say that one of the llamas (I believe he said the dark one) is very friendly, cuddly, and the other one is quite stand-offish. The owner contacted the breeders of the llamas and asked, “What’s wrong with the unfriendly one?” The breeders responded, “The unfriendly one is NORMAL, the nice one is acting out of character.”
