The alpacas are in a new location

Camels, renowned as old-world animals, originate from distinct regions: the two-humped camel comes from Asia, while the one-humped camel is native to North Africa and Arabia. However, camelids also exist in the New World. Among them, llamas are undoubtedly the most well-known, but surely many have already heard about the alpaca, and even the guanaco and the vicuna.

The two wild species, the guanaco and the vicuna, are primarily native to the slopes of the Andes. Among their domesticated relatives, the guanaco is clearly the wild ancestor of the llama, which was domesticated by the local inhabitants. In the case of the alpaca, the matter is not so simple. For a long time, it was thought that the wild ancestor of the alpaca could be the vicuna, but according to the latest research, the alpaca is also a domesticated descendant of the guanaco. The possibility also arose that the direct ancestors could have been hybrids of the guanaco and the vicuna.

There is a significant difference between the two domesticated forms, the llama and the alpaca, in that llamas grow somewhat larger, while alpacas have a denser, longer, and thicker coat. These differences are related to the issues of domestication and utilization: while the llama is a general-purpose domestic animal, kept for centuries for its meat, skin, wool, and load-bearing ability, the alpaca is primarily used as a wool-producing animal. Its wool is generally softer, warmer, and at the same time lighter than that of most sheep breeds.

Perhaps it goes without saying that shorn alpaca wool is still utilized today: among other things, warm coats are made from it. However, nowadays more and more of these animals are kept purely for pleasure, because they are generally very likable and mostly quite friendly animals. Of course, they can spit too, similar to llamas or camels, but they also usually don’t use this ability without reason. However, it’s not worth upsetting them.

The alpaca has been domesticated for at least 2,000 years, but according to some opinions, it could have been a domestic animal for as long as 6-7 thousand years.

In our Zoo, alongside camels, we have almost always kept New World camelids as well. There was a time when we primarily had llamas, but in the past decade, the audience could see more alpacas instead at our place. Previously, their enclosure was near the edge of the domestic animals’ exhibition area, close to the horse corral. However, when the camels moved to one of the spacious, new enclosures of the Biodome, their vacant place was transformed for the alpacas, who have already been able to take possession of their much larger new home than before. As “roommates”, they also got some Cameroon sheep and Gyimes Racka [Valaha with Corkscrew Horns sheep] beside them.