ALPACA INFORMATION

Behaviour
Alpacas are social herd animals and should always be kept with others of their kind, or at the very least with other camelids. They are gentle, elegant, inquisitive, intelligent and observant. As they are a prey animal, they are cautious and nervous if they feel threatened. They like having their own space and may not like an unfamiliar alpaca or human getting close, especially from behind. They warn the herd about intruders by making sharp, noisy inhalations that sound like a high pitch burro bray. The herd may attack smaller predators with their front feet, and can spit and kick. Due to the soft pads on their feet, the impact of a kick is not as dangerous as those of hoofed animals, yet they still can give quite a bruise, and the pointed nails can inflict cuts.

Spitting
Not all alpacas spit, but all are capable. “Spit” is somewhat euphemistic. While occasionally the projectile contains only air and a little saliva, they also commonly bring up acidic stomach contents (generally a green grassy mix) and project it onto its chosen target.

Spitting is mostly reserved for other alpacas, not for humans, but sometimes a human gets in the line of fire. If an alpaca is extremely displeased at a human for example taking away of food, that person may well become covered in smelly, green grassy goo. The smell is foul and to be avoided at all costs.

For alpacas, spitting results in what is called “sour mouth.” Sour mouth is characterized by a loose-hanging lower lip and a gaping mouth. This is caused by the stomach acids and unpleasant taste of the contents as they pass out of the mouth.

Some alpacas will spit when looked at, others will never spit — their personalities are very individualized and there is no hard and fast rule in terms of social behavior, although there is often a group leader, and a group trailer/runt that is picked on by others.

Physical contact
Once they know their owners and feel confident around them, they may allow their backs and necks to be touched. They do not like being grabbed. Once socialized well, most alpacas tolerate being stroked or petted anywhere on their bodies, although many do not like their feet and lower legs handled. If an owner needs to catch an alpaca, the neck offers a good handle — holding the neck firmly between the arms is the best way to restrain the animal. Holding the neck from the rear with the animal’s head under one’s arm is also very effective.

Hygiene
To help alpacas control their internal parasites they have a communal dung pile, where they do not graze. Generally, males have much tidier, and fewer dung piles than females who tend to stand in a line and all go at once. One female approaches the dung pile and begins to urinate and/or defecate, and the rest of the herd often follows.

Because of their preference to using a dung pile, some alpacas have been successfully house-trained

Sounds
Individuals vary, but Alpacas generally make a humming sound. Hums are often comfort noises, letting the other alpacas know they are present and content. However, humming can take on many inflections and meanings, from a high-pitched, almost desperate, squealing, “MMMM!” or frantic question, “mmMMM!” when a mother is separated from her offspring (called a “cria,”) to a questioning “Mmm?” when they are curious.

Alpacas also make other sounds as well as humming. In danger, they make a high-pitched, shrieking whine. Some breeds are known to make a “wark” noise when excited, and they stand proud with their tails sticking out and their ears in a very alert position. Strange dogs — and even cats — can trigger this reaction. To signal friendly and/or submissive behavior, alpacas “cluck,” or “click” a sound possibly generated by suction on the soft palate, or possibly somehow in the nasal cavity. This is often accompanied by a flipping up of the tail over the back.

When males fight they also scream, a warbling bird-like cry, presumably intended to terrify the opponent. Fighting is to determine dominance, and therefore the right to mate the females in the herd, and it is triggered by testosterone. This is why males are often kept in separate paddocks — when two dominant males get together violent fights often occur. When males must be pastured together, it is wise to trim down the large fang-like teeth used in fights, called “fighting teeth”. Although alpacas may try to bite each other they only have a bottom row of teeth, so damage is usually minimal. When fighting they will often tangle others necks and attempt to push each other around, but they settle down after a week and agree to a winner and dominant male.

Reproduction
A male in the act of mating, or hoping for a chance to mate, “orgles” (sings). This orgling helps to put the female in the mood, and it is believed to also help her to ovulate after mating.

Females are “induced ovulators,” which means that the act of mating and the presence of semen causes them to ovulate. Occasionally, females conceive after just one breeding (which can last anywhere from 5 minutes to well over an hour; the males are “dribble ejaculators,”) but occasionally do have troubles conceiving. Artificial insemination is technically difficult due to the fact that the act of breeding stimulates ovulation - but it can be accomplished. Babies conceived from artificial insemination are not registerable with the Alpaca Registry.

A male is usually ready to mate for the first time between one and three years of age. A female alpaca may fully mature (physically and mentally) between 12-24 months. It is not advisable to allow a young female to be bred until she is mature, as over breeding a young female before conception is possible is a common cause of uterine infections. As the age of maturation varies greatly between individuals, it is usually recommended that novice breeders wait until females are 18 months of age or older before initiating breeding.

The young male’s penis is attached to the prepuce, and generally does not detach until one to two years of age. The penis is a very long, thin, prehensile organ that is perfectly adapted for the task of finding the vaginal opening despite a fluffy tail, penetrating the hymen (if present,) navigating the vaginal canal and entering the cervical opening, where deposit of the semen occurs.

Pregnancies last 11.5 months +/- two weeks and usually result in a single cria. Twins are rare approximately 1/1000. After a female gives birth, she is generally receptive to breeding again after approximately two weeks. Crias may be weaned through human intervention at approximately 6 months and 60 pounds. However, many breeders prefer to allow the female to decide when to wean her offspring. Offspring can be weaned earlier or later depending on their size and emotional maturity.

It is believed that alpacas generally live for up to 20 years and occasionally longer. Conditions and nutrition are better in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Europe than in South America, so animals live longer and are healthier. One of the oldest alpacas in New Zealand (fondly called Vomiting Violet) died at the end of 2005 at the old age of 29.

History of the scientific name
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the four South American camelid species were assigned scientific names. At that time, the alpaca was assumed to be descended from the llama, ignoring similarities in size, fleece and dentition between the alpaca and the vicuña. Classification was complicated by the fact that all four species of South American camelid can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. It was not until the advent of DNA technology that a more accurate classification was possible.

In 2001, the alpaca genus classification changed from Lama pacos to Vicugna pacos following the presentation of a paper on work by Dr Jane Wheeler et al on alpaca DNA to the Royal Society showing that the alpaca is descended from the vicuña, not the guanaco.

The relationship between alpacas and vicuñas was disputed for many years, but Wheeler’s DNA work proved it. However, many academic sites have not caught up with this, so it is something well known to alpaca breeders who have read Hoffman’s book, and to Royal Society members who have access to the current classification data, but not more widely known.

Alpaca fibRE
Alpaca fleece is fibre, similar to sheep’s wool in some respects, but lighter in weight, silkier to the touch, warmer, not prickly, and bears minimal lanolin which makes it nearly hypoallergenic. It is also soft and luxurious. Alpaca fleece is made into various exports, from very simple and inexpensive garments made by the aboriginal communities to sophisticated, industrially made and expensive products such as suits. In the United States, groups of smaller alpaca breeders have banded together to create “fiber co-ops,” to make the manufacture of alpaca fiber products cheaper.

White is the predominant color of alpacas, because of selective breeding. However, alpacas come in many shades from a true-blue black through browns-black, browns, fawns, white, silver-greys, and rose-greys as well. In South America, the preference is for white. White animals generally have better fleece than darker-colored animals. This is because the dark colors had been all but bred out of the animals before the demand for darker fiber grew up in the United States and elsewhere. In order to reintroduce the colors the quality of the darker fiber has decreased slightly. Breeders have been diligently working on breeding dark animals with exceptional fiber, and much progress has been made in these areas over the last 5-7 years (citation needed).

In physical structure, alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy, but its softness and fineness enable the spinner to produce satisfactory yarn with comparative ease.

Suri Alpaca
There are two types of alpaca: Huacaya (which produce a dense, soft, crimpy sheep-like fiber), and the mop-like Suri (with silky pencil-like locks, resembling dread-locks but not actually matted fibers). Suris are prized for their longer and silkier fibers, and estimated to make up between 19-20% of the Alpaca population. However, since its import into the United States, the Suri is growing substantially in number and color diversity. The Suri is thought to be rarer, possibly because it is less hardy in the harsh South American mountain climates, as its fleece offers less insulation against the cold. The Suri fleece parts along the spine, exposing the animal to the cold, unlike the Huacaya fleece which provides excellent cover over the backbone.

As with all fleece-producing animals, quality varies from animal to animal, and some alpaca produce fiber which is less than ideal. Fiber and conformation are the two most important factors in determining an alpaca’s value.

Alpaca have been bred in South America for thousands of years. Vicuñas were first domesticated and bred into alpacas by the ancient Andean tribes of Peru, but also appeared in Chile and Bolivia. In recent years alpacas have also been exported to other countries. In countries such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand breeders shear their animals annually, weigh the fleeces and test them for fineness. With the resulting knowledge they are able to breed heavier-fleeced animals with finer fiber. Fleece weights vary, with the top stud males reaching annual shear weights up to 7 kg total fleece and 3 kg good quality fleece. The discrepancy in weight is because an alpaca has guard hair which is often removed before spinning.

Good quality alpaca fiber is approximately 24-29 µ in diameter, and can sell for 2 to 4 dollars per ounce. Finer fleeces, ones with a smaller diameter, are preferred, and thus are more expensive. As an alpaca gets older the width of the fibers gets thicker, at between 1µm and 5µm per year. This is often caused by over nutrition; if fed too much nutritious food the animal doesn’t get fat, instead the fiber gets thicker.

LINKS

Sunset Alpaca Stud  1764 Te Matai Road RD8 Te Puke 3188 New Zealand   Ph +64 7 573 4480   info@sunsetalpacas.co.nz