Photo of the day (8.26.10)

County fairs are full of good old-fashioned fun. Where else can you see a tractor pull, eat nothing but deep-fried foods, see carnies in their native habitats, and admire the area’s finest livestock, all in a day? This photo from the Nicollet County Fair in Minnesota by mlmartense is titled “the surly llama” but I get more of a coquettish, even cunning, vibe. It’s as if the llama alpaca has big plans for me to follow. Actually, llamas and alpacas are quite docile and gentle creatures often used as therapy animals as they have a calming effect on people. Looking into this fella’s eyes, I can see how an hour of feeding and hugging a llama or alpaca could be an excellent form of therapy.

Have you taken an evocative animal photo in your travels? Upload it to our Gadling Flickr pool (make it downloadable, please!) and it could be a future Photo of the Day.

UPDATED: It turns out this charming creature is, in fact, an alpaca and not a llama. Apologies to any pack animals offended by the mix up.

Photo of the Day (01.30.10)

I don’t want to know what’s going on in this photo by Flickr user hannah.r.freedman. And I certainly don’t want to know what lessons this girl is taking away from her inspection of a llama’s central business district. I just hope that she owns that animal. Because I was always taught not to look a gift llama in the butt.

Did you practice llama proctology when you were in Otavalo, Ecuador? Did you take any pictures of it? Or, better yet, have any travel photos that don’t involve you and llama having a reverse staring contest? Submit your images to Gadling’s Flickr group right now and we might use it for a future Photo of the Day.