The llamas in Shawn the Sheep (image at top) were far from peaceful and created havoc unless tamed by the sound of an Andean pan flute... But we are told that they good visitors to the elderlies who love their hot breath:

See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzAAz1YD3Ig

There is strong evidence that SARS-Cov-2, or the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, didn't originate in the city of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, a University of Cambridge geneticist has found.

In a recent paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Peter Forster, a fellow in archaeological research at Cambridge, said he found three main strains of the virus, labeled as A, B and C.

The A and C types are found in significant proportions outside East Asia, that is, in Europeans and Americans. In contrast, the B type is the most common type in East Asia.

The A strain was the founding variant because it was the version most similar to the type of SARS-Cov-2 discovered in bats, but it wasn't the predominant type in Wuhan, according to his research.

Read more:

http://covid-19.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202005/17/WS5ec0d679a310a8b2411563c8...

see also Science magazine 31 January 2020:

In the race to find a vaccine against COVID-19, scientists have found an unlikely inspiration — the alpaca.

• Scientists and researchers are studying alpacas in their fight to find a vaccine for COVID-19
• Alpacas, camels and llamas all create two types of antibodies in their immune system

• While research is ongoing, it may still be years until a vaccine is available to the public

At the heart of Australia's coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne, researchers and scientists are examining an immunity curiosity from alpacas that, along with other members of the camelid family, create two types of antibodies. 

Senior principal scientist from the Australian Synchrotron Michael James said the alpaca's unusual immune response had already been used in research for other viruses, such as HIV, around the world. 

"Alpacas and animals like them actually create two different types of antibodies. One is similar to the type we [humans] make, but they also create these things called nanobodies," Dr James said. 

"It's these nanobodies the researchers are seeking to use to see if we can fight the COVID-19 virus."

Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute are injecting alpacas at a research facility in Gippsland with a small protein of the virus to generate their nanobody response.

"We've all seen the pictures of the SARS-COVID virus, the spiky bit on the outside, that's called the viral spike proteins, they're the bit that helps the virus infect our cells," Dr James said.

"So they then collect the antibodies from the blood of the alpaca, and they process the nanobodies and bind them to part of the viral spike protein that they've also isolated."

The researchers then team with scientists at the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne to study the proteins at an atomic level.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-08-13/alpacas-help-researchers-in-hunt-for-coronavirus-cure/12550702

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