Alpaca

The AOBA or Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association is one of your best sources for information on Alpacas.

Where am I from and who are my relatives?

The alpaca is a type of animal that lives in the Andes Mountains of South America. The alpaca is part of the camelidae family and is closely related to the Llama and also related to the camel. The llama is a much larger animal, standing up to 4 feet at the shoulder and weighing 340 pounds.

Of all the attributes of the alpaca, its history is the most interesting part of this animal. The oldest known recording of these charming creatures was 1,000 years before the great pyramids of Giza. The Inca nobles demonstrated their wealth by the number of alpaca's they owned, as well as showing off the beautiful fur garments. The trade in the fur of the alpaca, 2,000 years after the great pyramids, created a thriving Peruvian economy. So it continued for thousands of years with these magical animals creating wealth and prosperity for their Inca owners, until the 17th century when the Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Inca Empire.  This information was taken from www.blueplanetbiomes.org

Alpacas at Camp

At Cub Creek Science Camp we have several Alpaca's.  One of our male Alpacas, Max, has a funny way of looking through his long hair at us and makes us laugh.  One of our female Alpacas, Talca, is a soft white Alpaca.  They had a baby in the summer camp session of 2010, an Alpaca called Layla's Miracle.  Campers in the Jr Vet program were lucky enough to be in the barn when she was born.  We also have another black male named Angel. These are all gentle creatures and somewhat shy.  They love to have a treat of sweet feed which they will eat from your hand.

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More information on the Alpaca