Llamas are best known for their gentle character and the ease at which they can be trained. This makes them versatile for a variety of uses. They can often learn new tasks after only a few repetitions.
Within the herd, llamas communicate with gentle clucking, orgling or hums and ear and tail movements. The llama’s alarm call is high-pitched and has been compared to the sound a tropical bird’s call. Llamas use the alarm call when danger is present or if they are alarmed by something. Llamas hum when they are uncomfortable or overheated. If they are curious, worried, distraught or calling their young, they also hum. Different pitches are used to differentiate the meaning of the hum. Orgling is a sound similar to gurgling that males make when mating or when he approaches a female. Clucking is used when flirting or meeting a new llama.
When a llama stretches very tall with their head held high, with a rapid flicking of the tail, it usually indicates displeasure. This behavior is common of a pregnant female who wants to detour an approaching male.
Llamas are known to spit at each other in self-defense. They will lay back their ears and posture their head very high in the air prior to spitting. Normally this is only directed toward other llamas in the herd, but occasionally a llama will spit at a human if they have been mistreated or if they object to something hurtful.The spitting or spraying behavior is used to define pecking order in a herd, to show dominance.