Alpacas

Just as the lamas, alpacas are part of the South American camelids group, but originate from the Vicugna, are a little bit smaller and significantly lighter than lamas. The easiest way to distinguish alpacas from lamas is by the shape of their ears: the ears of alpacas are formed like spears, a lama’s ears look more like a banana.
Already the Inca people highly estimated alpacas for their silky wool, so it is no surprise that it was the ruling family’s privilege to wear garments made of alpaca wool. When the Spanish conquered South America in the following, the alpacas were replaced by sheep and almost disappeared.
Today the alpaca is considered valuable once again, not only because of its precious wool but also for therapy including animals, as this nice creature approaches humans simply driven by its own curiosity.

Family	Camelidae
Order	Artiodactyla
Suborder	Tylopoda
Origin and distribution	Originally kept in herds on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador and northern Chile; today Alpacas are bred almost all over the world
Habitat	High mountain pastures, steppe and veldt, semi-desert areas
Diet	Grass, shrubs, moss, lichen, hay, fresh and dry leaves
Behavior	Social herd animal
Life expectancy	Up to 20 years
Weight	65 to 80 kg
Height at the withers	Up to 90 cm
Coat colors	Plain white, apricot, gray, brown and black; rarely spotted or appaloosa patterns
Breeds	Huacaya and Suri
Gestation period	330-360 days
Foals	1 per year
Characteristics	no hump; soft padded feet with two toes (Tylopoda); upper lip is split in two halves, pointed ears, soft fiber, furry head