Meet Whitetop, recognized by Guinness as the oldest llama living in captivity. He also spends his days comforting chronically ill children.
At age 27, Whitetop,loves selfies and snuggles, lives at the Victory Junction camp near Greensboro North Carolina, in a camp founded by race car driver Kyle Petty, son of NASCAR great Richard Petty, in 2006. Free and open year-round, the camp sits on 84 acres, and is designed to give comfort to children with conditions that include cancer, kidney and heart disease, cerebral palsy, Spina Bifida and an array of other neurological and physical disabilities.
Whitetop is known for his sweet and empathetic personality, according to camp barn director Billie Davis, who told the Associated Press that the llama’s go-to move is to lie completely still while campers pet him, which can comfort children and provide them with important sensory input. “He really gets to help campers come out of their shell when they interact with him,” Davis says. “He can be kind of intimidating at first, but once they come over to him and love on him and pet on him, they just realize how sweet he is.”