Gestation Of Llamas

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Most people think llamas are grumpy and flighty, but they don’t know how long the mother has been carrying her baby, cria, or what she has gone through in order to have her cria. The mother carries her cria for about 11 1/2 months of the year. When the baby llama is born it usually weighs from 18 to 30 pounds .The baby’s body looks very unproportional when they are born. The head looks too big for the baby’s neck, and the legs look too small compared to its body. Llamas are very unique animals because they can only have one baby a year. Llamas go through a lenghty process before they can have a cria. The female llama must be the right age, telling if she is bred, and then the actual labor of the cria after 11 1/2 months of gestation. Gestation is the period the mother carries her baby until birth. Llamas are better off being bred at the age of 36 to 48 months old. If they are bred at a younger age they may not be fully done developing, in that case it could cause damages to their growth and health. “The female's anatomy that is most vulnerable to damage from pregnancy -- her back -- is not mature until 36 to 48 months, and maturity can be later in females who have experienced malnutrition, or a significant illness or trauma during their youth (Physical maturity). Most people breed their female llamas at the age of 18 to 24 months of age but do not know the damages that it can cause the mother and the cria. Llamas are induced ovulators, which means they can be bred at any time of the year. Induced ovulators do not produce an egg until they have been bred. Llamas are very different from most animals, by they do not go into heat like a dog would before it can be bred. Dogs go into heat when they are ovulating an egg. Llamas must be bred with a male before they produce an egg. If the mother is bred before she is fully mature it could decrease or fully stop growth

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