Llama Behavior

Llamas learn by behavior, all the time. It is part of their survival tactics. They will watch your small body movements, and even the expression on your face. This is all visual for the most part. They do not pay a lot of attention to sound, though they can slowly develop a good vocabulary. This behavior makes them extremely enjoyable to work with, but also a challenge.

Llamas' relationships with other llamas are dynamic and constantly changing. They challenge other llamas for superiority for food, hierarchy in the flock, etc. So, here again, they are watching all the time. This is facilitated by their intelligence, curiosity, and excellent vision.

With humans

Llamas enjoy hanging around with humans, because they do so many wacky things. Due to their intelligent and curious nature, llamas appreciate new and unusual situations (as long as it is not perceived to be threatening to the llama). It is really fun to take llamas into new situations as this is usually more enjoyable than a problem.

You have to earn your relationship with a llama; there's none of this "master/slave" stuff between you and a llama. If you want your llama's respect, you've got to live up to it. It's really a great feeling when a llama trusts you, believe me.

Are llamas affectionate?

Because of their fluffy appearance and big brown eyes, there is an expectation that llamas will have a "teddy-bear-like", affectionate nature -- that is, that they will enjoy being touched and handled. This is an unfortunate view of the llama, because it is contrary to their normal nature. Llamas are terrific companions, but they aren't affectionate, by any means. This presumably relates to the fact that llamas are not physically social (as are dogs, cats, horses, cows, etc) animals. If one llama sniffs another, it is likely to be spit upon. Luckily, they don't spit on people for this, but they usually aren't thrilled by being touched.
Some people familiar with llamas, such as John Mallon, feel that early "desensitization" of baby llamas can help overcome this intolerance that some llamas have to touching. Others such as Marty McGee feel that approaching them with particular kinds of touches can help them overcome strong aversions to touch, where these exist.
Our farm experience has been is that there seems to be a genetic component to tolerance or intolerance to touch. That is, we have llama babies that right from the start, have little or no aversion to touch, and this continues into adulthood. Other llama babies really avoid being touched, and these animals don't seem to adapt as well to being touched.

What about llamas and spitting?

Spitting is often discussed in relation to llamas. While spitting at other llamas is natural, people don't care about that - they just don't want the llamas to spit on them! Normal llamas wouldn't dream of spitting on a human, as spitting is a llama-llama interaction. On the other hand, improperly raised llamas, which are confused about who are the humans and who are the llamas, are prone to developing a spitting habit. Llama babies should be raised solely in the company of other llamas, and should not be overly or excessively handled when young. This is why most people's spitting encounters are made at petting zoos -- the all time worst situation any llama can be put in. (At least, in my opinion.) Normally raised llamas can be guaranteed "spitless".

With llamas

Spitting: Female llamas use spitting as their major method to maintain status within the herd and to fend off unwanted attentions (from young inquisitive llamas or male llamas).
Male llamas do not normally spit a lot at each other; rather, they prefer to have physical fights with each other. For that reason, a female llama is more likely to spit than a male, normally.

Touch: Llamas do not touch each other. Even mother llamas do not touch their babies, other than gentle sniffs and nudges. Llamas have an attached tongue, which means that they cannot extend their tongue out far enough for effective licking. (Other herbivores with social behaviors lick each other, as you can see horses and cattle doing to each other.) Because they are not exposed at an early age to touching, this tends to make them unaccustomed to touching, and in fact to resent this, in some cases.

With other animals

Llamas are interested in just about every animal, including birds. This can be fun, but it can be a problem, too. They will sniff a snake on the nose, and therefore often get bitten on the nose, which can be very dangerous or even fatal. We had one that tried to make friends with a skunk, but the skunk didn't take to it... the llama smelled for months. They will often run up to any interesting animal, which can be pretty scary for any animal being approached like this. We have seen a single llama panic a sizable herd of young cattle (and not quit running after them, either). So introduce your animals gradually. (Interestingly enough, they seem to take to fuzzy animals (like sheep) a lot more quickly and naturally.)