Peoples of the Altiplano had two large domesticated animals: llamas and alpacas. They were kept for their wool and used as pack animals that were often employed in large caravans. The llama in particular was highly valued and white llama adorned in red cloth with gold earrings would often go before the Inca ruler as a royal symbol. Animals were believed to represent various gods depending on what color they had and were sacrificed in great number and the blood was used as a ritual anointment. The control over the sacred animals was very rigorous. Shepherds had to preserve every last part of any animal that died and present a full animal to the Inca or risk severe punishment. Among the food products made from the Peruvian camelids was sharqui, strips of freeze dried meat, the origin of modern-day jerky. The meat of the common folk was the cuy, the guinea pig. They were domesticated by 2000 BC and were easy to keep and multiplied rapidly. Guinea pigs were often cooked by stuffing hot stones inside them. The entrails would often be used as an ingredient in soups along with potatoes, or made into a sauce. They could also be employed for divination, which later brought them into disfavor by the Catholic Church.
There was game in the form of the wild camelids vicuña and guanaco, whitetail deer, huemul deer and viscacha, a kind of chinchilla which was hunted with lassos. Hunting rights were controlled by the state and any meat would go into the state warehouses for storage. There were massive royal hunts where hunting teams would force huge herds into enclosures and there are reports of several thousand animals being caught in a single great hunt, including puma, bear, fox and deer.
One of the mainstays of the Inca army, and of the general population, was dried fish. Limpets, skates, rays, small sharks of the genus Mustelus, mullets and bonito were among the fish caught off the Peruvian coast. Other sea creatures like seabirds, penguins, sea lions and dolphins were eaten and so were various chitons, mussels, chanque (an abalone-like animal) and various crustaceans. Like other American peoples the Inca ate animals that were often considered to be vermin by many Europeans, like frogs, caterpillars, beetles and ants. Mayfly larvae were eaten raw or toasted and ground to make loaves that could then be stored.