Oldest living llama in captivity

The oldest living llama in captivity is Dalai Llama aka "DM Tommy Tune" (USA, b. 27 January 1996), who is 27 years and 11 days old, as verified in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, on 7 February 2023.

Dalai Llama aka "DM Tommy Tune" is owned by Jill "Kee" Straits, Maria-Fernanda "Sami" Straits and Andrew Thomas (all USA).

"He came to us at the age of 14. His previous family had obtained him as a 4-H project for their kids, but their kids had grown up and he was unattended.", said one of his owners, Jill.

Dalai had a companion llama who passed away at age 20 many years ago. "Since then, he hangs out with his best friend, a Nigerian dwarf goat named Gelato. They sleep side by side every night."

Dalai Llama loves to give rides to small children. He has been in parades and events for 4-H. "He still leaps in the air with joy when we bring him a bucket of mashed alfalfa".

"He loves to smell your hair when it is freshly washed and is also a spitter when it comes to going to visit our veterinarian, Dr. Fallen. Our daughter used to ride him when she was small and now helps to halter and care for him when he needs fly spray or eye drops".

Dalai Llama's 27th birthday was celebrated with family and friends "It was not our decision to break the record, but our llama's decision to keep on bucking every morning when the alfalfa pail comes around".

Once Dalai Llama's owners realized he was already the same age as the previous record-holder, they started feeding him extra mush and senior equine feed.