Glacier (5/20/96), a gelding, was registered under the name Ima Sumaq (which means "how beautiful" in the Quechua language), but since he did not know his name, we chose to call him Glacier. Glacier has been the guardian male of the herd since he was 10 months old. He was born in May 1996. He meets his responsibilities with intelligence and diligence. He has a special relationship with Apu. At feeding time, Apu is the only llama that can feed close to Glacier without competition.

Glacier loves to hike. All you have to do is mention the word "out" or "walk" and he gets excited. He starts vocalizing and runs through an incredible range of sounds as if to say "going out," "going out,".... He rushes to the gate and stands there vocalizing and waiting to be haltered. Like the other llamas, he knows a variety of words - "hay", "llama llama” (the call to food), "no", "carrot", "halter", "stand", "walk", "tree", "this way", "step up", "beep beep" (you are in the way), "mistletoe" (a forbidden food), "foot", "bell", "home", ...

Glacier was bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake in April 2000. After two weeks of local treatment, our vet, Dr. Porte of Sunset Canyon Veterinary Clinic at Wimberley, transferred Glacier to Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine. He spent 10 days under the care of their Department of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery. His survival was due to the superb care of Dr. Porte and Dr. Jensen's group at A&M. Glacier also helped with his stoic cooperation, intelligence, and his will to live. Glacier has REALLY SPIT on a human just one time. Glacier was watching with great interest when Dr. Jensen cut into Glacier's side to begin a rumenectomy. Glacier unloaded a world class spit at the doctor. After that, they took the precaution of draping a towel over Glacier's eyes so he would not see what they were doing. Glacier came home with a quarter-sized hole through his left side into the rumen. If he lay on his left side, fluids ran out. We washed his side several times a day to prevent scalding. It took about a month for the opening to close and heal. See treatment details and photos.

We tried an experiment at feeding time by ringing a bell to call the llamas. It was not continued because the llamas anticipate feeding with so much enthusiasm that no bell is needed. The call “llama-llama”, a hand wave, or walking toward the barn is enough to bring the llamas on a run. Glacier, however, thought the bell was a great idea! He started ringing it to call us. It worked. He generalized bell ringing to things other than food, but most of the bells are requests for feeding. If the llamas want out of the yard, everyone will go stand at the gate, and Glacier will go ring the bell. All of the llamas seem to expect us humans to understand exactly what is being requested. Glacier will usually ring the bell on request, but he expects a carrot reward for his performance. See photos and video of him ringing the bell.

He loves to ride in the van, but he insists on sitting in the middle (right under the rear view mirror). He "helps us drive" by watching traffic. He leans into curves, and often anticipates curves by leaning before the van starts to turn. No matter what the activity (hiking, parades, or just discussing life's adventures) Glacier is a delightful companion.