ALPACA AND LLAMA DIFFERENCES

Many people confuse the Alpaca and Llama. They are both Camelids from South America. We understand how confusing it may be, but there are distinct differences.

The alpaca is a fine fiber bearing animal and not really used for anything else. A Llama, also, has fiber that can be used but it is much coarser, although it does have a soft undercoat that is fine and is used by spinners.

Alpacas are very much herd animals and must be with their herdmates. Llamas are more independent and are often kept separate from other llamas.

A Llama is a much larger animal. They have been used as guard animals for alpacas. It is really not recommened though. Get a dog for guarding. Their larger size makes them great as a pack animal. They are also used for pulling carts.

An alpaca is approximately half the size of a llama. Too small to use for carting or packing. An alpacas function is to grow beautiful fleece.

They have other physical differences besides their size. An alpaca has straight ears. A llama has curved ears, often called banana shaped. A llamas back is straighter which makes them good for packing.

Since so many people call our Alpacas llamas, we put together a video to show off the differences between the two camelids.

Llama pictures courtesy of Rangemore Llama Farm.

Hopefully this video helped you to understand the difference between the alpaca and llama.

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