"Hey Mom, can we get one?"

Alpaca: The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in superficial appearance. (As defined by Wikipedia)

We saw the cutest Alpacas ever on our homeschool group's field trip to a local Alpaca farm.

We got there thinking they'd be pretty big, but we were quite mistaken! These little guys are so adorable!! They are extremely soft and although shy, they will walk right up to you and let you pet them. Fortunately none of them spit on us, but we did see them sneeze a LOT!

The babies are almost the same size as the full grown adults. This farm keeps the females separated from the males until breeding time.

Here are a few more photos from our trip:

All the Alpacas were shaved only a week before we came, so they didn't have much on them except for this little lady. She was too young to shave. Isn't she sweet!?!


Part of our homeschool group...sitting on the hill waiting for the Alpacas to approach us. Lionel is in the red shirt. Sweet-Pea was next to me - she was VERY scared!


Eventually they came up to the kids. Any sudden movements or noise scared them away though, so the kids had to be quiet. Is that possible?!?




Notice the silly teeth! God truly showed His sense of humor when He created these animals!


Lionel and Sweet-Pea next to one of the males. See how small they are?


A mama Alpaca nursing her baby - yup HER baby. They don't necessarily give birth to Alpacas of the same color. Interesting bit of information huh?


Sweet-Pea standing next to a bunch of the Alpaca fleece that will be cleaned and sold for big bucks!


A few more interesting facts about Alpacas:

• They use a communal area to do their business & can be housebroken!
  
• You can purchase your own Alpaca for approx. $500.
• Alpacas come from the Andes Mountains are are very hardy animals
• 1984 brought the first Alpacas to the USA from Chile & Bolivia
• They have no top teeth in the front
• 90% are white, but they come in 22 different natural colors
• They have 3 stomachs
• Their life span is 15 to 20 years
• Their gestation period is 11 to 12 months. They have only baby at a time
• They are closely related to the camel
• They have 2 toes on each foot. They have no hooves, but padded feet.
• Alpacas are herbivores
  
• They call their young by humming
• They are intelligent and easy to train.
• They are shorn once a year and can bring in up to $450 each for their fleece!
  

So, are you interested enough to run out to the nearest Alpaca farm to buy your own?? Me neither, but they sure are cute aren't they!?!?