The Alpaca

Though they do bear certain similarities with llamas, Alpacas are different in these sense that they are significantly smaller in shape and size, with Alpacas not kept as “beasts of burden”.

Typically found in domesticated enclosures and habitats in South America, Alpacas are more favored for their “fiber source” purposes, with Alpaca fibers generally used in the making of various fabrics and textiles, just as with wool.

With the average Alpaca weighing somewhere between 48 to 84 kilograms, the Peruvian Alpaca is quite famous in the textile industry, with the general Alpaca fiber category known to come in more than 50 natural color shades and hues in Peru.

Alpaca herds are typically found in the Andes in Peru, northern Chile and in northern Bolivia, at above sea level heights of up to 3,500 meters. Sociable and generally easy to domesticate, they are known to have issues with being physically touched, but this doesn’t mean that they are impossible to keep.

Also known for being “tidy”, Alpacas are also known to eat just about anything, with different accounts telling of Alpacas actually chewing through tins and cans, though their staple diets would mostly consist of hay and grass.

As already mentioned, the Alpaca’s physical characteristics are quite similar with llamas, leaving many in associating the llama and Alpaca as one and the same, without realizing that they are actually different from each other.

With their distinct looks and the variations of their coat colors, Alpacas are certainly interesting creatures, whose fleeces are often shorn on regular intervals, used in making different textile-based items such as blankets, scarves, hats, gloves and more.

 Alpaca Video