Pupils spend time having a llama fun

Children learned that the animals spit to protect their territory.
AMBER HYLAND
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Mojavi and Cuervo sniff each other out as third graders raise their hands and wiggle their fingers, bubbling with excitement.
"Why are they smelling each other?" a pupil asks, looking curiously at the two llamas pacing around Campbell Elementary School's library.
"They're friends," says Lisa Steigerwald-Kane, Campbell Elementary School teacher and owner of the llamas. "They're saying, 'Hey, why are we here with all of these kids?'"
On Friday, Steigerwald-Kane brought two of her seven llamas to the school. Pupils in kindergarten through fourth grade got an opportunity to ask questions and learn about the animals as a culminating activity for the book "Is Your Mama A Llama?" written by Deborah Guarino and illustrated by Steven Kellogg.
Steigerwald-Kane found "Is Your Mama A Llama" online for $1 a copy and donated eight copies and a video to the school library. The school encouraged her to bring the llamas for the kids.
Steigerwald-Kane held up bags of hay and llama fur and yarn before passing it around to the pupils. As the bag of hay reached the front row, one llama lowered its head for a quick bite.
"Yeah, he loves that hay. He's a pig," Steigerwald-Kane said as other teachers tried to calm the giggling crowd.
"If you're quiet, you can hear them humming," one teacher said.
Naturally inquisitive
Besides learning about llama noises and eating habits, pupils asked typical questions of elementary school curiosities like spitting.
Steigerwald-Kane explained that llamas usually won't spit on people. When she got a new llama, other llamas spit on it to protect their territory.
"It's like they're saying, 'I'm the boss. Don't mess with my stuff. Don't eat my hay.' Just like you would act with your brothers and sisters," Steigerwald-Kane said.
In one year, Steigerwald-Kane has acquired seven llamas. Three she adopted after they were rescued. She explained that the process of adopting a llama is very complicated. She was set up with a mentor who made sure her farm was ready for the proper care of the animals.
Steigerwald-Kane said she wouldn't be surprised if she got more llamas in the future, adding that the animals are "so addicting and sweet."
"I wish they would have had something like this when I was in school," she said as another group of pupils filed into the library, bubbling with questions about llamas' riding capabilities.