About Alpacas

• Alpacas are herd animals from the Andes Mountains in South America

• Alpacas are in the camelid family which consists of 3 groups: African Dromedary (1 hump); Asian Bactrian (2 humps); and South American alpaca, llama, vicuna, and guanaco

• Ancestors of camelids originated in North America 50 million years ago

• Camelids are twice as old as the cattle family and have been domesticated for more than 7000 years

• Camelids are the oldest domesticated livestock in the World!

• Alpacas and llamas are bred in South American for fiber and meat; their dung is used for fertilizer and fuel

• Llama fiber is more work to process and is used predominantly for outerwear, rugs and rope

• Llamas are about two-thirds larger than alpacas and are bred and used as pack animals

• Alpacas derive from the wild vicuna, a finer-fibered, 2-coated camelid

• It takes the vicuna 2 years to grow fiber long enough to process with various shades of fawn being their only color

• It is said “alpacas are a gift to mankind from Pachu Mama (Mother Earth)”

• The import of alpacas to the United States began in 1984

• The Alpaca Registry, Inc. was developed in 1988, and was closed to imported animals in 1993

• There are nearly 89,000 huacaya and nearly 17,000 suri registered by ARI in the United States (2005)