Lands of Bronze and Llamas - A Domestication TL
- Thread starter Huehuecoyotl
- Start date
I like these alternate domestication timelines, and really anything that gives the Native Americans a better chance. So far, this looks good (not, to be fair, that there's much so far...but what is there is good), so...subscribed.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
Since I cant get Titanotylopus, Llamas are the second best
I wish...
Aw, shucks.
Thank you! Trust me, the odds will not be so stacked against the indigenous Americans this time around...
New update, er, still in production. It's almost done.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
The human history isn't too far off, I just need to finish laying out the natural history first. I'm a bit of a paleontology buff.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
The Uurung
Hemiauchenia macrocephala, the Quintessential Columbian Camelid
(© San Diego Zoo, so far as my knowledge goes)
Hemiauchenia macrocephala in its wild form (compare with this image of the South American llama.)
Evolutionary History
Hemiauchenia macrocephala, the Quintessential Columbian Camelid
(© San Diego Zoo, so far as my knowledge goes)
Hemiauchenia macrocephala in its wild form (compare with this image of the South American llama.)
Evolutionary History
Consider, for a moment, Hemiauchenia macrocephala, the taxon from which all modern Hesperidian [1] camelids are descended. It's hard to imagine Columbia [2] without its teeming herds of domesticated uurung, but it could have very easily not been the case. Genetic evidence shows that the Columbian population of the genus passed through a dangerous genetic bottleneck about 11,500 years ago, and that there may have been as few as only a few hundred Hemiauchenia across the entire continent.
Just what rescued Hemiauchenia from the same fate that befell their close cousin Camelops is unknown, as the same extinction event claimed almost all the megafauna of the continent at the end of the last Ice Age. It seems to have been a happy accident that this remarkable animal rebounded following this nadir, giving rise to the splendid variety of Columbian breeds we see today.
Camelops hesternus, the Columbian camel. The name is a misnomer, as it was a lamine and not a cameline. This species, a sister taxon of Hemiauchenia, went extinct at about the time of the aforementioned genetic bottleneck.
The genus, once it recovered, branched out somewhat, expanding across the desert to highland Isthmocolumbia [3] and north along the length of the Alinta [4] Mountains. From here the species diverged into two distinct wild subspecies: in Isthmocolumbia, the larger and more robust paixaay (H. m. macrocephala) arose, and in Petsiroò [5], the smaller and more gracile breed traditionally called simply the uurung (H. m. petsiroensis) arose. As the name of the latter came to be used as a general term for all wild and feral members of Hemiauchenia, the Petsiroan variety has come to be instead called the true or Petsiroan uurung.
Description
Although the two subspecies of wild uurung share a number of differences in appearance, it is plain to see that they are both members of the same species.
Both, like all camelids, have slender necks, long legs, and padded feet. As with all living lamines, the uurung are smaller than any Eurasian camels, but stand much taller than their Madeiran fellows. The wild male paixaay stands between 7.7 and 8.2 feet (2.34 - 2.50 meters) at the crown of its head (females are a head shorter), and even the comparatively smaller true uurung stands at between 6.5 and 7.1 feet. (1.98 - 2.16 meters). The former weighs in at an average of 670 lbs (304 kg), the latter a scant 510 lbs (231 kg).
Uurung have proportionately longer legs and larger heads than the Madeiran glama [6]. Its limb proportions resemble those of the African gerenuk antelope, which allows both varieties of uurung to rear up onto their hind legs for a time to reach higher vegetation. In terms of dietary habits, uurung of both kinds have a broad range of selection of vegetation, owing to their far reach and well-varied dentition which allows them to browse or graze as the situation demands. Uurung will prefer low-lying leaves and shoots, and abrasive grasses, if given the choice.
Uurung pelage resembles that of most other camelids in texture, providing soft, lanolin-free wool when grown to the right length and shorn. Paixaay fur is short, a part of its adaptations to arid, semi-tropical savanna and desert, while the coats of true uurung are longer and shaggier. Paixaay fur ranges in color from a dark brown to a sandy, almost blonde tan, while true uurungs come in brown, white, black, and any shade or combination thereof.
Unlike most other mammals, but like all camelids, uurung are induced ovulators, and their females do not experience heat or estrus every year. Almost without exception, the dam will give birth to a single cria [juvenile lamine], and will care for the young uurung for a year or two, when the juvenile reaches sexual maturity. A paixaay cria weighs around 56 lbs (25.4 kg) at birth, and that of a true uurung about 43 lbs (19.5 kg).
Uurung of all varieties are social animals. A group of paixaay will range anywhere from a single breeding pair up to a herd of over 20 animals, and true uurung herds can grow even larger. It is a rare occurrence to find an uurung of either type solitary. There is a strict pecking order within the uurung herd, with a single dominant male or breeding pair leading a number of females.
The social lifestyle, wide dietary range, and great adaptability of the camelids have seen their domestication in every continent on which they are found. In Columbia, it would see its domestication on two separate occasions...
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[1] - The 'Hesperidian' label covers the continents we call the Americas, though they have separate names ITTL.
[2] - North America
[3] - Mesoamerica and Central America
[4] - The Rockies
[5] - A region or country in the *American Southwest
[6] - The llama, obviously!
As a bonus, here's an infographic of the spread of the camel family which I forgot to include in the last update:
The dot in western North America represents the area in which the camelids originated.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
It looks like I forgot a footnote; 'Madeira', which is referred to in the description section of Hemiauchenia, is used as of the present day ITTL to refer to South America.
Seconded. The bit about the wool is very interesting - it can increase population density and stability across the Rockies and Mountain West. Wool will be tremendously useful.
Cheers,
Ganesha
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
I knew wool was useful, but I'm curious what you mean about it facilitating population growth and stability. Since I'm working on the domestication update for tonight, can you enlighten me?
Wool has the wonderful property of staying warm when wet, unlike, say, cotton. Therefore, it is excellent in the snow. It's also quite good at keeping babies warm. Wool garments are fairly comfortable and flexible. Mountain societies with wool do better than those without.
Cheers,
Ganesha
I demand an update, or I shall have to virtually flog you and then post nitpicking comments on every thread you've posted. It will be horrible, absolutely horrible.
I suggest you avert this fate by satisfying me, slave.
----
If that argument doesn't work, how about this one.
You are the Chairman of the Imperial Party of Kemet. I am a member, and the leader of the Society for the Preservation of Tradition. You have an obligation t please me, or I might have to use the Society and its Party supporters to usurp you. I'm not ever kidding.
----
But seriously, great piece of work, as always. I look forward to seeing the effects the camelids have soon.
I suggest you avert this fate by satisfying me, slave.
----
If that argument doesn't work, how about this one.
You are the Chairman of the Imperial Party of Kemet. I am a member, and the leader of the Society for the Preservation of Tradition. You have an obligation t please me, or I might have to use the Society and its Party supporters to usurp you. I'm not ever kidding.
----
But seriously, great piece of work, as always. I look forward to seeing the effects the camelids have soon.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
You're a frighteningly crazy fellow, my friend. The next update will be finished tomorrow and will cover the initial domestication of the uurung.
katchen
Banned
New world camelids don't take much initial domestication to get wool from them. For that matter, neither do sheep. In the case of the smaller camelids (guanucos, vicuna), native Americans simply build cone or funnel corral pens to funnel the herd in so that the animals go in one at a time and then shear the animals every year, two years, four years, and then turn them loose until the next time.
For llama and uurung, getting them to the point of bearing burdens, then people and having cria in corrals --and as people become lactase tolerant, submitting to being milked, will be a long process.
And as societies develop, I can easily see sedentary plow societies like the Mixtec in the Valley of Mexico develop. And the Pima. But I can also see the Shoshoni turning into the Uurung equivalent of Turks and the Dineh or the Utes-Paiutes-Aztec the Uurung equivalent of Mongols once they figure out the stirrup. And not only riding south but riding east to the Great Water as well.
For llama and uurung, getting them to the point of bearing burdens, then people and having cria in corrals --and as people become lactase tolerant, submitting to being milked, will be a long process.
And as societies develop, I can easily see sedentary plow societies like the Mixtec in the Valley of Mexico develop. And the Pima. But I can also see the Shoshoni turning into the Uurung equivalent of Turks and the Dineh or the Utes-Paiutes-Aztec the Uurung equivalent of Mongols once they figure out the stirrup. And not only riding south but riding east to the Great Water as well.
Well, there's no need to dwell on such an obvious fact.
I'm interested to see who Domesticates the uurung first. Mostly, though, won't it's early impact only be as a food source?
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
All very good points! Although on which points you are the closest to the truth I can't yet say.
Yes, humans will face several challenges in reigning the uurung in to their needs, but, as they say, 'necessity is the mother of invention'.Well, there's no need to dwell on such an obvious fact.
I'm interested to see who Domesticates the uurung first. Mostly, though, won't it's early impact only be as a food source?
Yes, as with most domesticates the uurung will be a food source first and foremost, although wool will find an appeal in human societies early on as well. It'll only be as the uurung becomes a staple of Columbian societies that other uses for the animals will begin to be examined.