Apu (Apu Canachuay) was our first llama. She was a bottle supplemented 4 month old in March 1997 when we brought her home. Sharon rode with her in the trailer to a second llama farm where we acquired Glacier, a 10-month-old male. She is our oldest female. Apu is our “greeter.” Every visitor is met and whiffled by Apu.
She is a very non-aggressive llama. If she does not want to do something, she kushes in classic camelid style protest. It is her manner of saying “I don't want to do this.” All you have to do is continue what ever you are doing and she will rise up and join you, but she has made her opinion clear. She is excellent at pantomime to communicate what she wants. She will politely block your path to get your attention (without being pushy), run her nose up and down on the gate to signal "open please," nose in the air to signal "pull down the tree limb so I can eat the leaves'", etc. Even though Apu is not aggressive to the other llamas, she is a leader. She often initiates progressions in and out of the pasture, and appears to wield considerable influence in herd decisions.
She loves to hike outside the field and to find forbidden forage over the fence. If you show her a halter or say the words “walk”, “out”, and “tree”, she will rush eagerly to the gate and cooperate to be haltered. Preparing to hike is hampered only by her eagerness.
