ABSTRACT
The most appropriate measure of domestication might be argued to be the occurrence of discrete morphological traits only present in domestic animals. There are some size distinctions between the llama and alpaca, but unfortunately the same is true of the guanaco and the vicuna. Alpaca incisors are thought to be intermediate in form between vicuna and guanaco/llama. Vicuna incisors are parallel-sided, with open roots; guanaco and llama incisors are spatulate-sided with closed roots. Historical records as well as present-day distribution indicate the Andean highlands to be the primary habitat for domestic camelids and thus research focused there. A shift in the management of camelids from meat to wool and cargo-bearing appears to occur first in the Lake Titicaca region. The two zones are for a time distinguishable in terms of focus on large versus small domestic camelids, and on meat versus wool/cargo-bearing attributes.
