I have 4 llamas, 1 girl and 3 boys. One of the boys, Ahimsa, is dominant, in that he's the only one that will approach me and take treats from my hand, let me scratch his back, walk next to me. The other 3 always hang back, so he's always at the front of the line. Of the 3 that hang back, the female, Prani, is dominant. She protects and stays close to the largest male, Satya. Santosha is the most submissive, to the point that he usually eats alone, sometimes even out of sight of the other three, who frequently chase him away from whatever he's eating. Yesterday in the pasture, after a half-hour training session in the stable, Prani rapidly approached Santosha, with her head low to the ground. Prani stood with his head high (very unusual), and watched her approach him, head on. Prani pushed her nose under Santosha's chest, between his front legs, and gnawed on his skin. Prani stood still, remaining upright, and accepted her behavior. It seemed aggressive, because of Prani's rapid, head-on approach. It also seemed submissive, because she held her head within inches of the ground as she scurried along. I intervened after about 30 seconds of gnawing, because Prani is always mean to Santosha, and I didn't know if she was hurting him. Afterward, they went about their grazing as usual, as if nothing had happened. Santosha had not been part of the training session, and remained outside in the pasture the entire time, nearby but out of sight of the llamas in the barn. The interaction happened immediately upon Prani's departure from the barn and her successful training session. What was that?
