Alpaca (Vicugna pacos): Facts, Fleece, Size and Behavior

What is an alpaca?

Alpacas belong to the family Camelidae, which also includes the dromedary and Bactrian camels and three other South American species: the llama, the guanaco and the vicuña. The four South American camelids have no humps, and all of them can interbreed. Two are wild (the guanaco and the vicuña) and two are domestic (the llama and the alpaca).

For a long time the alpaca was thought to descend from the guanaco, like the llama. A genetic study by Miranda Kadwell and colleagues, published in 2001, showed instead that its main ancestor is the vicuña, and the alpaca’s scientific name was changed from Lama pacos to Vicugna pacos. Some recent references group all four South American camelids back into the genus Lama, so both names are still seen. The full story is told in Where do alpacas come from?.

Appearance: huacaya and suri alpacas

An alpaca has a slender body, a long neck, a small wedge-shaped head with large dark eyes and short, pointed, spear-shaped ears. The upper lip is split, so each half can move separately to pick up plants. Instead of hooves, each foot has two toes with toenails and a soft leathery pad underneath, which is gentle on pasture.

There are two breeds, defined by fleece rather than by body shape:

• Huacaya (wa-KI-ya) alpacas make up roughly 90% of the population. Their fleece is dense and crimped, standing out from the body and giving them a fluffy, teddy-bear look.
• Suri (SOO-ree) alpacas make up roughly 10%. Their fiber has no crimp and hangs in long, silky, twisting locks, a little like dreadlocks, with a strong shine.

Breed associations recognize around 22 natural colors, from white, cream and fawn through many browns to gray and true black, and alpacas can be solid colored or patterned. White fleece is popular with the textile trade because it can be dyed any color.

How big is an alpaca?

The alpaca is the smallest domestic camelid. An adult stands about 81–99 cm (32–39 in) at the shoulder. Adults weigh 48–90 kg (106–198 lb), with most animals in the range of 55–65 kg (120–145 lb). Males and females are similar in size, and the clearest physical difference is in the teeth.

Adult males develop sharp “fighting teeth”: an upper incisor-like tooth and canines that can grow more than 3 cm (1.2 in) long. They use them to bite at rival males’ legs and necks. Like other camelids, alpacas have no upper front incisors; the lower incisors work against a firm dental pad.

Where do alpacas live?

There are no wild alpacas. Their traditional home is the puna, the cold, treeless high grassland of the central Andes in southern Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. Herds there graze at about 3,500–5,000 m (11,500–16,400 ft) above sea level, often near bofedales, the boggy high-altitude wetlands that stay green in the dry season. Nights below freezing and strong daytime sun are normal.

Peru is home to most of the world’s alpacas, and South America as a whole holds the vast majority. Since exports began in the 1980s, alpacas have been farmed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, much of continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Herds in Europe and North America live on ordinary lowland pasture and cope well with cold, though they need shade and shelter from heavy rain and heat.

What do alpacas eat?

Alpacas are grazing herbivores. In the Andes they feed mainly on tough native grasses and sedges; on farms they eat pasture grass and hay. They nip the plants off with their lower teeth and split lip rather than tearing them out by the roots, which makes them relatively light on pasture.

Like camels, alpacas chew the cud: food is swallowed, partly fermented, brought back up and chewed again. Their stomach has three compartments rather than the four found in cattle and sheep, so camelids are not classed as true ruminants, but the system is very good at getting nutrients out of poor-quality plants. A typical alpaca eats only about 1.5–2% of its body weight in dry food each day, a small amount for an animal of its size.

Alpaca behavior and herd life

Alpacas are strongly social and feel stressed when kept alone. In a herd every animal knows its rank, and disputes are settled mostly by posture, sound and the occasional spit rather than by fighting. Males compete more seriously: they chase, neck-wrestle, bite at each other’s legs and push with their chests, and a dominant male may pin a rival’s head and neck to the ground.

Alpacas also have some unusual habits:

• Communal dung piles. A herd uses a few shared toilet spots and avoids grazing next to them. When one female goes, others often line up and follow.
• Spitting. All alpacas can spit, but they mostly do it at each other: over food, to keep a pushy herd mate away, or when a pregnant female rejects a male. The “spit” ranges from a puff of air and saliva to green, half-digested stomach contents.
• Alarm calls. On spotting a dog, fox or other threat, an alpaca gives a shrill, repeated, braying alarm call, and the whole herd stares at the danger with heads up. Groups will chase and kick at small predators.
• Humming. The alpaca’s best-known sound is a soft, closed-mouth hum, used between mothers and young and when the animals are curious, anxious or separated from the group. The reasons are explained in Why do alpacas hum?.

Body language matters as much as sound. Ears pinned flat back and the nose lifted signal annoyance and a possible spit; ears pricked forward and a still, staring pose mean alertness. A male defending his place may stand side-on to a rival with his ears back, a display known as “broadside”.

Reproduction and life cycle

Alpacas can breed at any time of year. Females are induced ovulators, which means they release an egg in response to mating rather than on a regular cycle. Mating is unusual among hoofed mammals: the female lies down in a resting position called “cushing”, and the male mounts her lying down too. The act often lasts 20 minutes or more, during which the male makes a continuous gargling sound called orgling.

Pregnancy lasts about 11 to 11.5 months, and a female almost always has a single baby, called a cria. Twins are very rare. Crias usually weigh about 7–9 kg (15–20 lb) at birth and stand and nurse within about an hour. Births usually happen between late morning and mid-afternoon, giving the cria time to dry off before the freezing Andean night. Crias are weaned at around six months.

Females can conceive again within a few weeks of giving birth. They become fertile from about one year old, though breeders usually wait until they are 18 months or older. Males reach full breeding maturity at about two to three years.

How long do alpacas live?

Alpacas usually live 15–20 years. With good care some reach their mid-twenties, and a few have been reported to live to around 28 years. Lifespan in the Andes, where animals face harsh weather, predators and less veterinary care, is often shorter than on farms in Europe or North America.

Predators and threats

In the Andes, alpacas can be killed by pumas and by culpeos (Andean foxes), and crias are especially vulnerable. Free-roaming dogs are a problem both in South America and on farms elsewhere. Severe cold snaps and snowstorms on the puna can kill many animals at once, particularly young crias and recently shorn adults.

Because the alpaca is a domestic animal, it is not assessed on the IUCN Red List. Its wild ancestor, the vicuña, is listed as Least Concern after a remarkable recovery from only a few thousand animals in the 1960s.

Alpaca fleece, farming and history

Fiber is the main reason alpacas are kept. Adults are shorn once a year, usually in spring, and each gives roughly 2.3–4.5 kg (5–10 lb) of fleece. Alpaca fiber has very little of the greasy lanolin found in sheep’s wool, comes in many natural colors and, in good animals, is as fine as quality sheep wool. It is spun into yarn for sweaters, scarves, blankets and coats; the details are covered in What is alpaca wool?.

In the Andes alpacas are also raised for meat, hides and dung, which is used as fuel and fertilizer. In Europe and North America they are kept on small farms for fleece and breeding stock, for farm visits and trekking, and sometimes alongside sheep or poultry, where their wariness of foxes and dogs can be useful.

Alpacas were domesticated in the Peruvian Andes several thousand years ago, and their fleece, meat and dung helped support Andean societies long before the Inca Empire. The Inca kept huge state herds and wove fine cloth from alpaca and vicuña fiber. After the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, alpaca numbers crashed as farmland was taken over by European livestock, and the surviving herds were pushed into the highest pastures, where most remain today.

Today alpaca herding is still an important livelihood for many highland families in Peru and Bolivia, while in Europe and North America the alpaca has become a familiar, much-photographed farm animal valued for its fleece and calm temperament.

Myths and facts

• Myth: an alpaca is a baby llama. Fact: alpacas are a separate domestic species descended mainly from the vicuña, and even an adult alpaca is only about half the weight of an adult llama. See alpaca vs llama for how to tell them apart.
• Myth: alpacas spit at people all the time. Fact: spitting is mainly part of alpaca-to-alpaca arguments. People usually get hit only when they are caught in the crossfire.
• Myth: alpacas are a kind of sheep. Fact: alpacas are camelids, more closely related to camels than to sheep, even though both are kept for fiber.