Subject: Alpaca Information File
Alpacas: Just the Facts
by Phil Switzer
Background Basics:
Alpacas are members of the camel (camelid) family. Camelids originated on the central plains of North America. 3 million years ago, the ancestral camelids migrated to South America. By the end of the last ice age, camelids became extinct in North America. The ancestral camelid developed into the present day wild vicuna and wild guanaco of the Andean highlands (Peru, Bolivia, and Chile) of South America. About 5,000 to 6,000 years ago the natives began the domestication of the vicuna into the present day alpaca as a fiber producing animal. They developed in the aplaca the following characteristics:
