Newest Bucket List Goal

[Dollythehun]

Cute, cute, cute! It's like watching Dr. Pol!

[rbarata]

Not at me.... very wise of them. Actually, not at all yet.

From what I've read they spit too when disturbed, not so often as lhamas.

[Optimist]

I absolutely dream of having these, but know I never will. (I dream about a lot of things!)

They must be fun!

[greenpassion]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between a llama and an alpaca?

---------- Post added at 08:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Mountaineer370

Oh, they are all cute! The baby alpacas are wearing their alparkas, I love it.

[estación seca]

There are 4 camel relatives in the Andes: Alpaca, guanaco, llama, vicuña.

Alpaca, Guanaco, Llama y Vicuña

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by estación seca

There are 4 camel relatives in the Andes: Alpaca, guanaco, llama, vicuña.

Alpaca, Guanaco, Llama y Vicuña

I would love to have a couple of vicuna. A guanaco, not so much... or really even a llama. We have horses, I'm short, and enjoy having at least a few around shorter than me.

It's my understanding llama and alpaca are domestic animals, bred originally down through guanaco and vicuna. From memory that is, which at times gets pretty shady.

[estación seca]

All four species are found in the wild. Llama and alpaca have been domesticated, for pack animals and wool. Guanaco have an extremely specialized diet, including small cactus. Their lower incisors have evolved into a scoop to dig up globular cacti. I don't know what the difficulty is in keeping vicuña, but they don't live long in captivity.

[WaterWitchin]

We're getting ready to turn the alpaca crew into a larger area (couple of acres) that's pretty heavily forested. Was a bit concerned about the crias and not being able to see them from the corral area.

The opportunity came up to rescue a female llama. She'd been living by herself for a year (not good) with a bunch of goats. Fortunately, the folks who had her realized it, and were looking for someone with other camelids. Alpacas are pretty tough, but llamas are larger and often used as guardian animals (sheep, goats, horses) when larger predators, such as coyotes, may be a problem.

After a brief spat (literally) with former alpha female Hillary, she's settled right in. We call her Dolly.

[Dollythehun]

I've herd 🤣 it's not good for llamas to be alone. And I love the Dolly Llama name!

[Mountaineer370]

She's definitely a pretty girl! Is she now the biggest one, or is it just the angle of the group photo? Do alpacas come in different breeds or types, or is there just one kind of alpaca?

It's so nice that you were able to give her a home where she can have company.