The first llamas were introduced to this country in 1865, but this animal does not acclimatise well in the South Pacific: a large herd that was introduced to Australia made no headway and eventually died out. Llamas have the objectionable characteristic of spitting. In the Bronx zoo of New York an Irish keeper removed the notice attached to the llamas' enclosure which said, 'Beware of the llama—he spits'. Apparently the Irishman considered that as far as the art of spitting was concerned the llama was a non-starter, compared to 'thim yankees'.