Llama coat colors

These are my observations and opinions about llama colors, a combination of thinking about what I have seen and my experience with the study of inheritance of coat color in other mammals.

by Dale Graham
webmaster@llamaweb.com

Clicking on a particular color name will show a picture of a llama of that color.
This same document, with the actual color pictures embedded -- warning, it will take some time to load.
llama icon Bay
Bays are a reddish brown with black legs and some black on the face. Bays can be a continuum from intensely red through a faded or dilute red.
llama icon Black
There may be two types of black: recessive black (a black that tends to sunburn to red on the top) and dominant black (a "shiny" black that tends not to sunburn). Some blacks may in fact be "black calico's". In this case, the coat appears to be an intense black, but reddish fiber areas can distinctly be seen in various places in their coat. See this color discussed later in this section.
llama icon White (?)
Many llamas appear to be white, but genetically, there does not appear to be any gene that results in a true white. Actually most white llamas are probably appaloosas. When white llamas are shorn, you will typically find small light colored spots here and there. On the other hand, some llamas are white because they carry genes for multiple diluting genes, possibly including roan. The color of these llamas may show at some times, and at other times they may appear to be entirely white.
llama icon Seal bay
This color can vary from almost black to a very rich brown color, with black head and legs. Often, such llamas are born coal black, but lighten up with time to a brown color on the body. Roan combined with seal bay can result in a buckskin sort of color.
llama icon Agouti
The "black" form of (intense) agouti has black legs (fronts) and a black head. The body is reddish brown. The belly and anal region is cream colored (sometimes with appaloosa spots). The backs of the legs are lighter and so is the neck.
Dilute agoutis are a variant. Their bodies are a faded red. Their legs and head are greyish black, their bellies and anal regions are cream or white. The picture here shows a paint dilute agouti.
The most extreme form of dilution on agouti has a faded grey head and legs, and a light peachy red body, with a white belly and anal region.
llama icon Cinnamon
This is the "brown" form of agouti. The intense phase has a brown body, very dark brown head and legs, and a cream belly and anal region. The belly may be spotted like an appaloosa. There are NO black hairs on such llamas.
The dilute phase looks similar but has lighter colors.
llama icon Brown
These llamas have no black hairs anywhere on their bodies, and the brown of their coat is not reddish brown, but definitely just brown (though it can be quite a luscious color). Their heads and legs are usually a much darker brown.
llama icon Paint patterns
Paint means a white splash over a colored background. This splash or splashes can actually take up virtually all of its body. Paint can occur in conjunction with any other coat color, with the possible exception of intense agouti or intense cinnamon, which may supress it (I've never seen a paint intense agouti or a paint intense cinnamon.)
llama icon Appaloosa patterns
There are some variations in how appaloosa is expressed in llamas. The majority of appaloosas appear to be "light dilute", the next most common are "dark dilute", and the least common are "intense" in color. Appaloosa patterning tends to be hard to observe, especially in light dilute llamas, as the length of their coat causes the spots to be blended with the background coat color. When shorn, one can see the patterns quite clearly again.
Light dilute appaloosa
Light dilute appaloosas have a cream coat with light brownish spots. This happens to be a paint appaloosa. Notice that the coat appears to be an overall cream color.
Dark dilute appaloosas or "merles"
Dark dilute appaloosas have a darker background coat, and brown spots. They often have "orange" colored spots on their head. This appears to come in two varieties: red merle and blue merle. The picture for this color shows a red merle. These are very common. Blue merles are rare.
Intense appaloosa
Intense appaloosas have a snow white coat with intensely colored spots (e.g., bay, black, brown, seal bay, whatever.)
llama iconPaint appaloosa patterns
Both "paint" and "appaloosa" are patterns affecting the distribution of color. Because they are controlled by different genes, both patterns may occur on the same llama. Here is a picture of a light dilute appaloosa paint and a dark dilute appaloosa paint.
llama icon Roan
Roan is a color modifier than can occur in conjunction with any other color. It has both variable effects on colors (darkening some, lightening others) and can have variable expression (a baby may be fully roan, but have no roaning as an adult, or vice versa). In addition, only part of the coat may be roan, or the whole coat may be roan. The most impressive expression of roan are those llamas that appear to be almost entirely grey due to a uniform expression of this gene. In most cases, the face and legs remain darker than the body color, as in other animal species in which roan is expressed.

Note: there are no llamas that are grey as a result of a "greying" gene, analogous to that of horses. (The "greying" gene is progressive; that is, the animals are born dark and become lighter every year until they are finally white. In addition, in other animals that turn grey, the head is the first place to turn white.) All "grey" llamas are in fact, genetically roan llamas.

This shows a picture of a brown roan llama.

llama icon "Black calico"
Calico llamas basically are any llamas that have BOTH black and red anywhere on the neck or the body. (Bays are red, but have black only on the legs or head.) I have observed intense appaloosa calicos, paint calicos, and solid calicos.
In llamas which also have white on the body or neck, you will see sharply defined red areas next to black areas in close proximity to the white spots. In llamas without white on the body or in areas of the body far from a white spot, you will see black and red fibers intermingled.
Unlike cats, calico in llamas is not sex-linked, so that both male and female calico llamas occur.
Black calico appears to be the most common form of this coloration, in which the llama appears to be mostly black (a very shiny, non-fading black), with either a few red spots close to white markings, or with reddish fibers among the black.
Calico can also be mostly red, with black interspersed as in this example.
llama icon Markings
Llama "markings" are smaller white areas, usually just on the head, on the neck very close to the neck, or on the legs up to the knee. This shows the marking I think of as the "Hereford/Angus cross marking", as it is so like the markings seen on the offspring of crosses between Angus and Hereford cattle.