Lost Creek Ranger Toiyabe

Lost Creek Ranger Toiyabe b. 03.03.2011 Gold'n Hawk x Lost Creek Ranger Tokatee Eager anticipation (Hawk's last offspring) turned to disappointment and an uncertain future for many in the herd — Toiyabe was born with an all-too-common genetic defect, choanal atresia. In her case, only one nostril is a dead end; the other functions normally (whether the anatomy is 100% normal is not 100% certain without a stressful diagnostic workup). That's good because it means she can nurse without getting milk in her lungs. That's bad because her oxygenation (and thus growth) is significantly compromised. Most choanal atresia (CA) babies are fully blocked, and also have other defects; at this time it seems reasonable to say that Toiyabe has escaped the other internal defects. If she had not, euthanasia would have been the only humane choice. Interestingly, the only other animal in which this defect appears with evidence of heritability is ... humans. Not exactly next door on the family tree! More humans are seen with partial CA than llamas (this may very well be failure of the llama breeders to identify the partial CAs; most human partial CAs are not identified at first), and those human babies with full CA have high incidence of the very same group of associated defects as llamas. Academically fascinating; no help at all for the afflicted. The big money of the short-sighted llama "industry" has ensured that the choanal atresia researchers are shut down or never gets started in the first place. All that's been confirmed to date is that it's not a simple recessive trait, but involves more than one gene and/or genetic succeptability combined with an unknown (but obviously relatively common) environmental trigger that becomes teratogenic in a subgroup of the lama. CA is vastly less common in humans than in llamas, but for humans, there is some evidence for the genetic/environmental trigger combination. It is possible that llamas may hold clues to avoiding CA in both species, but the decided lack of honesty and cooperation amongst the majority of llamas breeders will make any such clue mighty hard to uncover. I'll make Toiyabe's (and Tokatee's) DNA available for research if any opportunities arise, but will not allow them to be bred for research purposes. The tools to examine the DNA are not only here, now, but vastly more humane than the risks of pregnancies and the distress of a llama losing her baby shortly after birth (been there, done that, it sucked). "Toiyabe" means mountain in Shoshone. Life dealt her a mighty steep mountain to climb.

The unilateral "snotting" is visible here. This continuous mucous flow from only one nostril is what typically causes a human mother to whisk her baby in for a workup, whereupon the partial choanal atresia diagnosis is finally made. From my long experience with other llama breeders, most would ignore this, along with ignoring the tell-tale cheek puffing and frequent mouth-breathing during and after exertion; the adult llamas most commonly do no work whatsoever ... and many partial CA llamas are missed. Too bad, because accurate data on the rate of occurrence, especially in relation to full choanal atresias, would give a quick answer to the burning question, "How many genes/markers are we looking for anyway?" and give those of us who care about the animals a viable means to having healthy babies through informed breeding choices. Ah, the power of the fast buck; the twin achilles heels of honesty and compassion ...

Mom keeping close tabs on her new little one. Toiyabe has been motoring around at a greater speed than her single open nasal passage can supply oxygen, so she's also breathing through her mouth.

Everybody wants to check out the new arrival. The new arrival is still getting her bearings!

Toiyabe feeling her oats ... serious breathing difficulties notwithstanding! These photos were taken on her second day out (age three days), but I'm just now getting around to doing the post-processing.

Toiyabe leaps up in the air in joyous preparation for dashing off to investigate ... These photos were taken on her second day out (age three days), but I'm just now getting around to doing the post-processing.

Photos taken on Toiyabe's second day out (age three days), but I'm just now finishing up the post-processing.

Baby llamas love to run ... and run, and run, and run !!! Photos taken on Toiyabe's second day out (age three days), but I'm just now finishing up the post-processing.

Lost Creek Ranger Toiyabe 03.03.2011 — 04.04.2011 Toiyabe was found dead in the stall last Monday morning. There was no warning whatsoever, no sign of trauma. She had obviously just passed because the body was still warm and floppy (small animals lose body heat very rapidly). Toiyabe had gone (with Tokatee, her mom) to see the local vets on Friday for a follow-up exam and referral to OSU for a CT scan preparatory to reconstructive surgery. Both of the vets continually commented on Toiyabe's vigor compared to perfectly normal llamas. Despite her slow weight gain and projected eventual small size as a result, nobody expected that she would not live a normal lifespan since all other systems had to have been properly formed and functioning in order for Toiyabe to live past the first couple of days. Tokatee is still calling for Toiyabe — every noise MUST be her baby ... every place Tokatee can't access MUST be where her baby is stuck. It's heartbreaking. Toiyabe's loss has hit me very hard. She had incredible stamina, was always cheerful, and had as wonderful a disposition as a llama can have, and I don't mean the "cooperative sick animal syndrome" either — no, Toiyabe never could go in for the night until she'd played running-from-the-human games for 15-20 minutes. OSU-VTH is doing the necropsy and although that should give me a definitive diagnosis of Toiyabe's defect (which is still presumed to be partial choanal atresia), it may or may not indicate why she died. Goodbye, you silly, happy little sprite. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ OSU got the necropsy done in some kind of record time (for them). Toiyabe had (as diagnosed) one completely blocked (not formed) choanal (nose-to-throat) opening, and the other was just a narrow slit ! It's amazing how energetic she was given the severity of her deformity. However, the super-small opening does explain why she was able to nurse but didn't really gain much weight — although the tiny opening made it possible, nursing still could not have been easy for her. The actual cause of death was pulmonary edema (fluid-filled lungs). In adult llamas, pneumonia is very quickly fatal (they generally just up and die overnight), so she probably didn't suffer very long if at all, and there was nothing that could have been done to prevent it (she was on antibiotics at the time). There was no mention of ingesta (milk or grass) in the lungs, so exactly why the pneumonia developed is (and will remain) a mystery. All other systems and structures were normally formed.