|
|
|
|
Alpaca
Alpacas have been domesticated for thousands of years. In fact, the Moche people of Northern Peru often used alpaca images in their art. There are no wild alpacas. The closest living species are the wild vicuņa, also native to South America, which is believed to be the wild ancestor of the alpaca. Along with camels and llamas, the alpaca are classified as camelids. The alpaca is larger than the vicuņa but smaller than the other camelid species.
|
|
Alpaca
The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.
Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,483 ft) to 5,000 m (16,404 ft) meters above sea-level, throughout the year. Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, alpacas are not used as beasts of burden but are valued only for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, much as sheep's wool is. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States. Alpacas and llamas differ in that alpacas have straight ears and llamas have banana-shaped ears. Aside from these differences, llamas are on average 1-2 feet taller and proportionally bigger than alpacas.
|
|
