Gwen (fishingcat)'s photos with the keyword: AF-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF VR

Both Elahn and Gaiya are feeling the other's breech-of-personal-space as evidenced by their ears being back. But ... both are also really wanting to check out the others' nose and mouth odors (something adults would never permit). As they mature, personal space defense will suddenly take priority for one, spit threats followed by the real thing will ensue, and they will evolve ever closer to adult social behavior.

Boredom plus a touch of hormones drives Elahn to sniff other llamas' butts (he doesn't know why some attract him more than others, and he doesn't care ... yet). Gaiya has no interest in having her boundaries violated for no reason, so off she goes ... keeping both ears and a portion of her visual attention on Elahn. If the two were to remain together long enough, this would eventually become a sexual pursuit. Right now it's kid stuff, and good exercise (and a better alternative than eating non-stop — obesity is a problem in North American llamas, too).

Elahn is also trying (hard!) to send that "I'm really little [meaning I can't hurt you] so please don't hurt me" message ... but for an entirely different reason. A few days prior, Elahn was bored and (in llama language) invited me to play with him ... by rearing up and bumping me (fairly hard) when my back was turned. This is (not surprisingly) unacceptable behavior in a domestic animal, especially one that will eventually outweigh me by more than 200%. My response was to immediatly dump Elahn on his side and hold him down for awhile. **WARNING: I am well-versed in llama behavior, physically fit, and skilled in advanced llama handling (the kind almost nobody else even knows exists, let alone uses). I also know my animals well — this would NOT have been my response with a baby of some other females (who would unhesitatingly attack — Megan in fact RAN over and hummed nonstop, very upset, but neither spat nor struck at me ... because that's who she is). Translation — DO NOT try this at home!!!** The initial end result is precisely what I needed — Elahn is now firmly cognizant that I am not a plaything, and that thinking before acting is on the top of his list when he sees me. The downside, of course, is that because Elahn's behavior (that triggered my response) was so normal to his world that he can't (yet) figure out what got into me, and so he tells me at every opportunity that ... he's really small and wouldn't hurt me and so pleasepleaseplease don't hurt him. Eventually Elahn will intellectually puzzle out where the happy medium is, perhaps after doing the same thing to a different human and perhaps not, which is why I don't allow humans without llama savvy in the baby/maternity llama pasture without supervision! Such are the trials both of growing up (for Elahn) and of raising up young 'uns (for me) ...

As evidenced by the "U" neck and tail laid over her back, Sage is sending the "I'm really little [meaning I can't hurt you] so please don't hurt me" message, in this case indicating that I have moved out of the "predator" category (no prey animals in their right minds try to talk to predators!). In this particular instance, Sage is really curious, but wants to be sure that she doesn't trigger any scary behavior from me — she is not yet confident that she can predict what a human will do. In context, this is a good thing. In isolation (that is, without any history), it could have many other meanings. For instance, amourous male llamas use this posture in an attempt to approach closer to females ... and I would not want to be on the receiving end of THAT concept!