A South American camelid living in the high Andes, similar to the alpaca–small, hump less with a woolly coat that protects it from both cold and heat; although it contains no lanolin (as sheep’s wool does), its fibre density makes it waterproof.
The fleece is made up of a double coat, a coarser guard hair and the coveted under fleece: a honey-coloured down that keeps the warmth in and the driving wind and snow out. Camelid fibre is not technically wool, it is a hollow fibre with a series of diagonal walls in the centre of the structure–this makes for long, strong and insulating fibres that are also soft, making it suitable for clothing, blankets, rugs, wall hangings and curtaining.
Quite uniquely, the Llamas coat stops growing after 2-3 years if not shorn; once shorn it will grow back again.