Pronking

WHAT DO LLAMAS DO ALL DAY?

September 9, 2013

Well, aside from eating and cat-napping, 

llamas play all sorts of games with their pack members. 

These games include:

 “Your Food is My Food” 

“Get Out of My Way”

“Can’t Touch Me!”

“I Can Spit Farther Than You Can” 

Essentially, llamas spend their day stealing food, pushing other llamas
away from “their” food, 

chasing and spitting at each other, plus wrestling and bucking
to assert their ranking in the pack.

Blessedly, a much more magical activity takes place on llama farms, 

usually on cool days and just before the sun goes down. 

That’s when these animals experience a surge of energy 

that must be spent before they stay fairly still from sundown to sunup. 

This particular activity is called pronking. 

Think of a rabbit or a deer hopping through a meadow:
all four feet leave the ground at once.

That’s what llamas actually do, and it’s an odd sight to behold. 

Even stoic, ultra-serious llamas will join an occasional pronking session. 

With every member of the pack hopping like bunnies for five to 10 minutes, 

pronking looks like an ancient, ritualistic dance.

But it’s just these quirky animals joining in some last-minute fun.

Because pronking happens at dusk, lighting is very poor for videotaping.

Mama Llama has tried unsuccessfully for more than a decade (!) 

to videotape her llamas pronking. They're sneaky about it!

Fortunately, www.youtube.com contains some videos
of joyful, pronking llamas. You won't believe your eyes!

Happy Trails from Mama Llama!