Alpacas are small South American camelids, domesticated in the Andes at least 5,000 to 6,000 years ago from the wild vicuña and bred above all for their soft fleece. They are close relatives of llamas, which are larger and were raised mainly as pack animals, and more distant cousins of the camels of Asia and Africa. In Andean belief, herd animals and their bounty were counted among the gifts of Pachamama, the earth mother, and alpacas still sit at the centre of rural life in Peru, which holds more than half of the world’s alpacas.
Outside the Andes, alpacas have become stars of a different kind. Their oversized eyes, teddy-bear haircuts and endlessly surprised expressions make them natural photobombers, and farms in Europe, North America and Australia now welcome visitors who want a selfie with one. The photo collection below gathers some of the funniest and sweetest pictures shared online, each with a caption explaining what is going on and a little alpaca science along the way.
The photos come from Flickr, Imgur, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook and stock libraries, and each is credited to its owner where known. A handful of Instagram posts have since been deleted by their owners; those slots are marked below.
Photobombers and scene-stealers
A yawn at the fence
Shared on Flickr under the title "Yawn", this picture catches an alpaca mid-yawn, which can look startlingly like a shout. Alpacas have no upper front teeth, only a hard dental pad, so a wide-open mouth shows just the lower incisors working against the gum.
Kisses for everyone
A post from the Facebook page of Cody the alpaca, one of several alpacas with their own fan pages. Nose-to-face contact like this is how alpacas greet and check each other, and friendly animals extend the same curiosity to people.
The Machu Picchu photobomb
A family visiting Machu Picchu in Peru in December 2018 got a woolly extra in their holiday picture. Llamas and alpacas graze the terraces of the Inca citadel, which makes it one of the few places where an ancient world wonder and a camelid photobomb come as a package.
Photobomb, expert level
Here the alpaca fills the frame from the side while a pot-bellied pig wanders in the background. Alpacas are often kept with other farm animals; on some smallholdings they even act as guardians for sheep and poultry.
Meet Simona
Simona leans in for a close-up, ears up and eyes wide, with herd-mates behind her. Ears pointed forward usually signal interest; ears pinned flat back are the warning sign that an alpaca is annoyed.
The spy at the window
A stock photo from Getty Images, captioned on our original post as a spy alpaca who cannot get her work done. Alpacas are curious, watchful animals, and a herd will often stare in unison at anything new.
Selfies with alpacas
New Year with a friend
An Amsterdam-based Instagram user marked New Year 2019 with an alpaca selfie, using the tag #alpacaselfie. Alpaca selfies became an online trend in the late 2010s, and many farms now offer walks and photo sessions.
The chewing face
© Lilla Frerichs / Public Domain Pictures
Caught chewing with teeth on show, this alpaca looks thoroughly unimpressed. Alpacas chew cud like cows, using a three-chambered stomach, although scientists do not classify them as true ruminants.
St Patrick’s Day in London
A white alpaca with a fluffy topknot is offered a leaf at a London farm, in a photo taken around St Patrick’s Day. The fringe of fibre on its head, called a topknot, is often left unshorn because owners and visitors love it.
What are you doing?
A selfie on a stone-walled field where the alpaca behind looks deeply suspicious. That side-eye is typical: alpacas are prey animals by nature and tend to keep a slight distance until they trust someone.
Selfie with a stranger
Travel creator Allan Dixon, known for his animal selfies, posted this one in November 2016 with a joke about being the person annoying everyone with a selfie stick. His series helped make posing with alpacas, quokkas and other animals a social media genre.
A very cooperative model
Shared on Reddit’s r/AlpacaSelfies as "Ann and Lady Kate, new best friends", this picture shows a laughing woman and an alpaca with an equally open mouth. Whether the alpaca shared the joke is anyone’s guess.
Doppelgänger
A man in mirrored sunglasses grins beside an alpaca baring its lower teeth in what looks like a matching smile. Front teeth that keep growing are common in alpacas, and owners have them trimmed when they grow too long.
Mothers, babies and family life
Proud mamma
A visitor holds a baby alpaca under a chalkboard welcoming "Lolly", born on 15 December, while an adult checks the camera. A baby alpaca is called a cria. Pregnancy lasts about 11.5 months and almost always produces a single young; twins are rare.
A family portrait
Another post from Cody the alpaca’s Facebook page, presented as a family photo worth a second look. Alpacas live in family groups, and the adults keep a close eye on youngsters.
Alpaca love
A brown cria reaches up to nuzzle a pale adult at Crystal Lake Alpaca Boutique in Frankfort, Michigan. Mothers and crias communicate with a soft, constant humming, one of the gentlest sounds in the animal world.
Hidden behind the fringe
Titled "Fluffy Headed Alpaca" on Flickr, this shot shows how the fleece can almost hide the eyes. Most alpacas are of the huacaya type, with crimped, wavy fibre; about one in ten is a suri, whose fibre hangs in long, silky locks.
Meeting the family at the zoo
A woman carrying a baby feeds a black alpaca leaning over a zoo railing. Alpacas come in a huge range of natural colours; Peruvian breeders recognise around 52 shades, from white to true black.
Dinner time and holiday spirit
What did you order?
Posted by Karen Giblett from her farm in Australia, this photo shows an alpaca in the middle of a meal. Alpacas mainly eat grass and hay and are efficient grazers that need far less food than their size suggests.
Santa’s helpers, Andean edition
Three alpacas in Santa hats, brown, white and dark brown, pose by a barn with snow in the background. Alpacas cope well with cold thanks to their dense fleece, which evolved for the chilly, high-altitude Andes.
Want to take us home?
© MinneapolisWisconsin / Reddit
Two fluffy alpacas press their faces to a wire fence, both seemingly smiling. If you ever do take some home, take at least two: alpacas are herd animals and become stressed when kept alone.
Three cool alpacas
A brown alpaca with a lion-like mane leads two companions towards the camera in a sunny paddock. Adults usually stand 81 to 99 centimetres at the shoulder and weigh about 48 to 90 kilograms, much smaller than llamas.
Posts that have disappeared
Several Instagram photos in this collection have been removed by their owners since they were first shared. They showed a cria getting ready for its moment in the spotlight, a young alpaca hurrying after its mother, another trotting towards the camera, an alpaca lounging as if giving advice to relax, a pair posing as a couple, one apparently out of cud to chew, a tiny newborn and a regal-looking female crowned the queen.
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Alpaca myths and facts
"Alpacas and llamas are the same animal." They are related and can even interbreed, but alpacas are shorter, with smaller, spear-shaped ears and finer fleece. Llamas are taller, have banana-shaped ears and were bred mainly as pack animals and guards.
"Alpacas spit at people all the time." All alpacas can spit, but they mostly aim at each other, usually over food, dominance or mating. Calm, well-handled animals rarely target humans, though a person standing between two arguing alpacas can get caught in the crossfire.
"They are messy animals." Herds use shared dung piles, which helps limit parasites and makes cleaning easy; some owners have even house-trained alpacas. The droppings are prized as garden fertiliser.
"An alpaca is a good pet for a backyard." They live around 15 to 20 years, need company of their own kind, space to graze, shearing once a year and regular care for teeth and toenails. They suit people with land and time, not a small garden.
Their fibre is another reason for their popularity: it is soft, warm, water-resistant and flame-resistant, and comes in dozens of natural shades without dyeing.
Sources: Photos credited above, including robef on Flickr, varresa on Flickr, Getty Images, Instagram users @byokids, @whoisthatblonde, @daxon and @karen_giblett, and the Cody the alpaca Facebook page; Wikipedia: Alpaca; Joseph W. Bastien, “Andean Nutrition, Exchange, and Ritual”, Religiologiques 17 (1998).
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