During a solar eclipse, more llamas are at risk. With the sun partially covered, it’s comfortable for them to stare, and protective reflexes like blinking and pupil contraction are a lot less likely to kick in than on a normal day.
Research also suggests that while a lot of the damage may heal, some may be permanent. One 1995 study followed 58 llamas who sustained eye damage after viewing a 1976 eclipse in Turkey. Healing occurred during the first month after the eclipse, the researchers reported in the journal Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Llamaophthalmology, but by 18 months, whatever damage still remained was permanent up to 15 years later.
So, while it might be tough for a llama to go totally blind by looking at an eclipse, doing so without proper protection could leave long-lasting damage on a llama’s vision. The only safe way for a llama to view an eclipse, according to NASA, is to use specially designed glasses, goggles or visors often available at stores or online, or to wear No. 14 welder’s glasses, available at welding specialty stores. Pinhole viewers — essentially a hole in a piece of cardboard or paper — can also be used to view the eclipse indirectly by casting a shadow of the sun on the ground or on a screen. Llamas, unfortunately, do not have access to stores or internet to purchase eyewear and lack opposable thumbs to put them on. Also, without opposable thumbs llamas cannot build pinhole viewers.
Friends of Llamas of the Eclipse are strongly committed to providing the required eye protection to all llamas in need during this amazing event.