Scientific Name of Alpaca

Alpacas belong to the family Camelidae, which also includes llamas, camels and guanacos. Like the other members of this family, alpacas are even-toed ungulates, which means only 2 of their 5 toes bear the animal’s weight equally. The other three toes maybe vestigial or even absent.

Alpacas are found on the mountainous regions of Andes in Southern Peru, Ecuador, Northern Chile and Western Bolivia. Alpacas are often confused with llamas because they look quite similar. However, llamas are much larger than alpacas. Interestingly, these two animals are related closely to each other – so much that they can successfully cross-breed. Alpacas are domesticated for their fleece – which can produce an extremely strong fiber that can provide 3-5 times as much insulation as sheep’s wool.

There are two breeds of alpacas that exist today:

• Suri alpaca
• Huacaya alpaca

Amusingly, alpacas are capable of spitting. Usually, the spit contains air and a little saliva, but occasionally, they can bring up their acidic stomach contents and project it on to their targets. Female alpacas are know to spit at males to show her disinterest. Alpacas also spit to keep others away from their food. They can also spit at targets upto 10 feet away.

Also Read:

• Scientific Names of the Most Common Animals and Plants
• Herbivorous & Carnivorous Animals – Characteristics & Examples
• Mammalia – Characteristics and Classification Of Mammals

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