Monday, April 26, 2010

llamas&alpacas




The members of the family camelid in order of size are llamas, guanacos, alpacas, and vicunas. Alpacas are the domesticated version of the vicuna and llamas are the domesticated version of the guanaco. During early South American history, llamas were used for their strength to carry things up steep Andean mountains. Alpacas, on the other hand were used for their soft fleece.
Huacaya and Suri are the dominate types of alpacas. Huacaya alpaca " width="100" height="100">have poofy, afro-like fleece that seems to stand straight off the animal's body. Suri alpaca" have straighter hair which looks similar to dreadlocks. The alpaca is usually 120-170 lbs and somewhere around 5'6" to the tip of its ear. Alpacas can generally live to be between 20-25 years old.
The perk of owning alpacas and llamas is that they are non-aggressive and intelligent. Also alpacas use a central poop pile so they are clean and the poop makes great fertilizer! They are the ideal family pet and can be very loving when taken care of. Another fun fact about alpacas and llamas is that they can "speak" to each other by humming. The only downfall of owning alpacas is that a minimum of three are recommended per acre, but even that's not a downfall since the more the better!

19 comments:

David said...

Wow, I didn't know Llamas or Alpacas could be so technical! The more you know I guess.

By King said...

really interesting and fun blog, those pictures of llamas are really beautiful on your blog post, excellent work

Rand said...

That's a lot of llama facts! I love the random picture of my eyes...? hahaha

AC said...

I didn't know there was a real difference between llamas and alpacas. but id want to see proof of this "intelligence."

Rowling said...

Good post. Llamas and alpacas are cute!

Owen said...

Llamas and alpacas are okay, but horses and donkeys are better.

Brooke said...

Cute page. I love your obsession with llamas. It is good to be passionate about something.

Morrison said...

I like your page! Your post was very interesting too with a lot of llama facts.

Gardner said...

Like the page. I learned a lot about llamas.

Lee said...

You sure are obsessed with llamas!

Whitney said...

Do you like any animals that are not in the llama/alpaca family? jk

Lorcat said...

I LIKE THE SECOND PICTURE ON YOUR PAGE! no reason why i just think that girl on the left is EXTREMLY HOTT! u shud get me her digits! ohhh and im sure u enjoy my profile picture if u like llamas so much! yeah!!!! LLAMA vs. UNICORN i think that would be a sick battle! just sayin!

Atwood said...

Good blog. You seem to know a lot about llamas and alpacas and seem very interested in them!

Herbert said...

Nice blog and llamas are the coolest.

Stephenson said...

llamas look like a big shaggy dog :P (inside joke) haha

Elizabeth said...

Cute Blog! I wish I were in a picture :/ Leave it to Tori to make a blog about llamas.... LOVE IT!

Shahid Ali said...

Awesome site I never knew any of this about llamas.

Cherryh said...

Cool post! I never knew so much about llamas and alpacas.

Carson said...

nice blog! i learned a lot about llamas and alpacas :) and i like the pictures on the side too lol