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Alpaca

Vicugna pacos

Photo by Isabela
Published on Project Noah
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-15.6984, -72.117

Field Notes

Habitat:

Andes peruanos

Notes:

Valle del Colca

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (4)

Thank you so much! I knew about the ears but the more photos on the Internet I looked at the more confused i got.
That's a llama. The surest give-away is the "banana ears", i.e. longer ears that curve inward. Alpaca ears are shorter and relatively straight. The white animal in the background however, is a suri alpaca. Alpacas come in two coats, the huacaya, which is the woolly fleece that most of us are familiar with, and the suri, which is long ringlets (similar to those on angora goat). The suri coat is exceptionally silky feeling and has a high lustre.
Hi Lori, I've found another photo but I'm not sure if it is an alpaca or a llama. Could you please help?
Great photo. For those people who wonder why they have red yarn hanging from their ears, the color(s) of the yarn indicate the owner of the animal (since alpacas are often kept in combined herds). The yarn is threaded through holes punched in the ear.
Photographed
PublishedNovember 24, 2010

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