A llama is a South American animal with a long neck, a long face, and thick hair like wool. People in the high mountains of South America have kept llamas for a very long time as animals that carry loads on steep paths, and also for wool and meat. It looks a little like a small camel without a hump, and it is related to camels, though actually it is its own animal, not a “mountain camel” in careful talk. The fluffier, rounder cousin people keep for wool and for cute photos is the alpaca; English keeps those two names apart even when the animals look similar from far away. English says the word with an L at the front: “LAH-muh,” not the Spanish “y” sound that ll often has in Spanish. The word is just this animal.