The contrast between the Old World, which saw the domestication of numerous large mammalian species, and the Americas is striking. While Eurasia and Africa developed large-scale herding economies based on cattle, sheep, and horses, the indigenous people of the Americas had vastly different animal resources. This difference fundamentally shaped the trajectory of civilizations in the Western Hemisphere, particularly regarding transportation, labor, and protein sources. Understanding the herding animals of the Americas requires defining the strict criteria for truly domesticated livestock.
Defining Domestication and Herding
Domestication is a process involving the long-term, multi-generational genetic modification of an animal lineage, resulting in an inherited predisposition toward humans. This differs from simple taming, where a wild animal is conditioned to accept human presence but its offspring retain wild instincts. True domestication requires humans to control the animal’s breeding for specific traits, such as docility, utility, and ability to thrive in captivity.
A “herding animal” refers to a large ungulate species, like cattle or sheep, managed in large groups primarily for economic purposes. Successful candidates must possess several traits, including a social structure with a dominance hierarchy that humans can exploit, a willingness to breed in confinement, a fast growth rate, and a non-flighty temperament. These biological prerequisites explain why many wild species could not be turned into reliable livestock.
The Primary Herding Animals
Based on the strict criteria for domestication, the total count of large herding animals successfully domesticated in the Americas before European contact is two. These are the Llama (Lama glama) and the Alpaca (Lama pacos), both members of the South American camelid family. They were domesticated from their wild relatives, the Guanaco and the Vicuña, respectively, in the Andes highlands of Peru approximately 6,000 to 7,000 years ago.
The Llama is the larger of the two, domesticated primarily as a pack animal capable of carrying 70 to 120 pounds over rugged mountain terrain. It also provided meat, hides, and dung, which served as a fuel source in the high-altitude, treeless environment. The Alpaca, being smaller, was not used as a beast of burden but was selectively bred for its exceptionally fine, dense fleece. Both species were central to the economy and social life of Andean civilizations, forming the foundation of a pastoralist society.
Factors Limiting Large-Scale Domestication
The low number of herding animals in the Americas is explained by a scarcity of suitable wild candidates. North America experienced a massive extinction event at the end of the Pleistocene era, approximately 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. This extinction wiped out nearly all the large megafauna that might have been domesticated, including native horses, camels, and mammoths.
The few large species that survived had biological and behavioral traits that made them poor candidates for herding. For instance, the American Bison is unpredictable and aggressive, making controlled breeding and management dangerous. Similarly, most deer species, like the white-tailed or mule deer, possess a flighty, panic-prone temperament and tend to flee when startled or confined. The absence of large, docile, herd-forming herbivores with a social structure amenable to human control severely restricted the potential for a herding economy across most of the continents.