The llama and the alpaca, very common in the plateaus of the Andes, are the domestic descendants of the guanaco. They were domesticated before the period of the Incas. The alpaca is raised for its long, soft wool; the llama is raised for its meat and its usefulness as a pack animal. A llama can carry more than 100 pounds 25 miles a day, oner paths that not even a mule could follow.