Llamas and Alpacas

Do you know how to tell the difference?

There are only 500,000 llamas in Peru and about 3 million alpacas. There are 100,000 trational herding families left and these animals are mainly in over 4,000 meters.

Alpacas - small, short nose, wool grows below knees , ears are straight, pointed and shorter than a Llamas, tail is carried low.

Llamas - face with long nose, haughty look, ears long and curved and tail is often carried high like a flag. The top photograph is also me with a Llama at Machu Picchu.

Vicuna for the rich? We do not hear about Vicuna's in Australia but they are the wild short haired alpacas in Peru. A scarf made from Vicuna is US $580 and a shawl is US$980. It feels so soft it is like velvet!