What is Alpaca? What's the Difference Between Llama, Alpaca, Vicuna and Guanaco？

The alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfully crossbreed. Both species are believed to have been domesticated from their wild relatives, the vicuña and guanaco. There are two breeds of alpaca: the Suri alpaca and the Huacaya alpaca.

Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Southern Peru, Western Bolivia, Ecuador, and Northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 metres (11,000 to 16,000 feet) above sea level.Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, they were not bred to be working animals but were bred specifically for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, similar to sheep's wool. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia, and 16 as classified in the United States.

Alpacas communicate through body language. The most common is spitting when they are in distress, fearful, or mean to show dominance.Male alpacas are more aggressive than females, and tend to establish dominance of their herd group. In some cases, alpha males will immobilize the head and neck of a weaker or challenging male in order to show their strength and dominance.

In the textile industry, "alpaca" primarily refers to the hair of Peruvian alpacas, but more broadly it refers to a style of fabric originally made from alpaca hair, such as mohair, Icelandic sheep wool, or even high-quality wool from other breeds of sheep. In trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohair and luster.

An adult alpaca generally is between 81 and 99 centimetres (32 and 39 inches) in height at the shoulders (withers). They usually weigh between 48 and 84 kilograms (106 and 185 pounds).

What's the Difference Between Llama, Alpaca, Vicuna and Guanaco？

The most-noticeable difference between the two animals is their sizes. Alpacas are smaller, around 90 cm (35 inches) high at the shoulder and between 55 and 65 kg (121 to 143 pounds). Llamas are the biggest lamoid at about 120 cm (47 inches) at the shoulder and about 113 kg (250 pounds). So llamas are going to be a lot bigger than their cousins. Their faces are also dissimilar: alpacas have small, blunt faces with short ears, while llamas have more-elongated faces with banana-sized ears.

Additional resources： wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca