'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Monday 14 January 2013

Alpacas are Funny Creatures


During my Art Residential on the farm, I have enjoyed watching the alpacas.  For someone used only to horses, cattle, sheep, dogs and cats, they are singular creatures, and some of the things they do show just how far they are from these other quadrupeds.

They are very alert and curious, and will watch and approach rather like a bold foal might.  When I returned from a particularly hot walk and flung myself down on the grass on the side of the drive, it gave me a start to open my eyes (once the red mist had cleared from them and my breathing had stopped sounding like a forge bellows) to see them all silently regarding me from just the other side of the fence.  I expect they had never seen someone so unfit before.

 Alpacas hum gently to each other and to you when they are happy.  It's a kind of Mmmm? Mmmm-mm sound, lovely to hear.  But if they are scared or cross, they'll spit smelly puffs of air and gobs of acidy juice, as my son found out when he assisted with their shearing a few weeks ago.

Alpacas are about half the size of llamas.  Llamas were bred to be pack animals and have two types of hair - soft under wool, and a 'saddle' of coarse hair to protect their backs from rubbing.  But Alpacas were bred (over 5,000 years!) for their fibre and have only one type of soft hair on their bodies.

I read that the Peruvians distinguish 300 shades of natural alpaca fibre colour.



The two on the left have recently been shorn.  
They sit like camels, quite different to cattle or horses.



They roll in the dust like horses ...



... and love to splash their drinking water on a hot day


They will fight each other by biting, kicking and banging their necks together, and can scream something awful when they get really mad, something I'm glad not to have heard.

When they're bothered by flies their short fluffy tails flick and flap, and if they are itchy a delicate deer-like foot or mouth gets to work.



Speaking of tails, if you are approached by an alpaca with its tail up and its head down, it would pay to retreat, as this is a threat display.

The most interesting thing, I think, is that alpaca have communal toilets.  Sometimes only one or two  spots in a paddock are the loos, where all the herd members 'go'.  This certainly makes for a much cleaner paddock, and perhaps is one of the reasons why you can run so many alpaca to the hectare - about as many as sheep.  That and the fact that although fussy eaters, they like to eat a small amount of a variety of plants.




Alpaca spend a lot of their day sitting chewing their cud, like a cow.  I like to think they are enjoying the view of golden distant sea, or the sun slanting through a faraway patch of misty rain and making a rainbow.



'Who, me?'
  

9 comments:

  1. They look relaxing creatures to have around.

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    1. They are lovely to have around Adrian. Although they are more alert and seem more intelligent than sheep, which I think are the ultimate relaxing creatures.

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  2. Lovely gentle creatures aren't they? I imagine they are less work than sheep too.

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    1. They eat the same as a sheep, which is weird because they are three times the size, and they tend not to carry such a worm load, (but still need Ivomec or some such), but they are a lot more trouble to shear as they have to be done on a table and they get very cross!

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  3. Oh, I LOVE the one splashing the water! And yes, they do lie down like camels, don't they? It's because they belong to the same animal grouping as camels.

    We have a farm here - near where Son No. 2 lives - where they keep vicunas. They look so sweet, but I have heard that they do have a temper!

    Having just picked up on my art again, I quite envy you your residential course! Beautiful countryside, too.

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    1. Yes Jay... Camelids. Vicuna herds in UK - how interesting. They are the wild ancestors of alpaca. I was amazed to discover that it took five to six THOUSAND years to breed the alpaca from the vicuna!

      Are you doing landscapes?

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  4. some of youR american visitors might not know what a ""loo'' IS<><><>

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  5. That's true Putz <><><> but I hope you understood it from the context.

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  6. There are Alpacas around here but I knew very little about them (apart from the temper and acrid spit) so that was a good read. Thanks.

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