What is the difference between a Llama and an Alpaca?

Question

I love Llama's i think there great, but then that mastercard advert came on the tele, n the alpaca's look like llama's but there not. So i was wondering whats the difference between them?

Answer 1

An Alpaca is a small Llama. during my work experience at a large animal vet's practice, I held on round an Alpaca's neck whilst the vet cut histoenails. They are very cute but do have a tendency to spit when annoyed.

Answer 2

There are really are a lot of differences between llamas and alpacas. The llama is roughly twice the size of the alpaca and the llama has a very coarse outer coat over a softer inner coat - as opposed to the alpaca, which has a very fine, single coat. In addition, the llama produces far less fiber per animal than the alpaca, despite its much larger size. This is because the alpaca was domesticated and carefully bred for over 5000 years as a luxury fiber-producing animal. The llama has been bred for the same amount of time as a pack-carrying animal. From time to time, I will hear people say that alpacas have a nicer disposition than llamas or vice versa. Neither of these statements is true. Both are very friendly, curious and easily trained and handled as long as they were not handled incorrectly by their oringinal owners. Despite being an alpaca breeder, I will admit that llamas seem to remain calmer when they are not with their own kind. This should not be used as an excuse to keep one alone in a field though. Both are herd animals and need other members of their own kind to live with. Keeping a llama or alpaca alone is very cruel. The llama and the alpaca can interbreed and produce live offsping, and those offspring are also fertile. There is no point in doing this on purpose, however. The result of such a breeding would be an animal that was neither as strong as the true llama nor would it have as nice a fleece as a true alpaca.

Answer 3

They both belong to the “lama” family. The main difference is in their size, the alpaca is much smaller than the llama and is not normally used as a pack animal. The alpacas are mainly used for wool. Many llamas have very fine fibre as well, but it is normally not as thick as it is on an alpaca.

The llama is basically a pack animal in South America, but only in the real rural areas as trucks are used more commonly now to move material in the areas where there are roads.

Answer 4

Both llamas and alpacas (and their cousins the vicuna and guanaco) are from the Andes mountains in South America (primarily Peru, Bolivia, and Chile). They are all related to the camel. They are *NOT* native to the Himalayas (or anywhere otuside of South America, for that matter), but have been exported pretty much worldwide.

Llamas are bigger than alpacas (about 4' at the shoulder and 6' at the head), heavier (about 400 pounds), and are built slightly different than alpacas because they were bred for packing. The topline of their back is straighter, and their tail looks like it's set higher on their rump. Their ears are banana-shaped, with a definite curve in them. Their fleece is generally coarser than alpaca, though there are some llama breeders out there that are working on breeding better fleece animals, with finer fleece and less guard hair. Because they have been raised for packing, llamas tend to be more tolerant of humans - their personality is very cat-like.

Alpacas are the smaller cousin to the llama (about 3' at the shoulder and 4' at the head), weigh less (150-200 lbs), and they sometimes appear to have a "hunchback" - the pelvis of the alpaca is rotated so the topline slopes off over the rump and the tail is set lower on the body. Alpacas have spear-shaped ears that should not have a curve. They are bred for their fleece, which is finer, warmer, and softer than wool - more on line with cashmere. Alpacas are shorn once a year, and a well-coated alpaca can produce 8-10lbs of fleece per shearing. Because they are herd animals who haven't historically been handled as much as llamas, they are more skittish and less tolerant of human interaction, though they are easy to handle and train once you can work with them.

Because llamas and alpacas do not produce lanolin (which doesn't need to be scrubbed out during the spinning process), people who are allergic to wool or who do not like the "pricklyness" of wool may be able to wear alpaca or a high quality llama.

Answer 5

They are both New World Camelids, the main difference (as mentioned in previous answers) being their size and coat/fiber quality. Their personalities can be different, but it depends on who you talk to. As a person who's spent more time with llamas, I think they can be nicer. But if you ask alpaca breeders, they often say the exact opposite. Most of my experience has showed me though, that llamas can be more social to strangers (ie, vets and their techs/assistants) than alpacas and are less likely to spit on humans than alpacas.

Answer 6

here ar the definitions:
llama: A domesticated South American ruminant mammal (Lama glama) related to the camel, raised for its soft, fleecy wool and used as a beast of burden.
alpaca: A domesticated South American mammal (Lama pacos), related to the llama and having fine, long wool.

there is another one that look like them called vicuña, heres the definition: The Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) is one of 2 wild South American camelids, along with the alpaca, which lives in the high alpineous areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama and the alpaca. Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool. The Vicuña's wool is very expensive because the animal's hair can only be shaven every 3 years. When knitted together, the product of the Vicuña's fur is very soft and warm. It is understood that the Incas raised Vicuñas for their wool, and that it was against the law for any but royalty to wear vicuña garments.


im from peru....where there is a bunch of these 3 animals....not only in the himalayas as noted before....

Answer 7

size and fiber quality is the difference. alpacas stand about 34"-36" on average, while llamas are about 42"-48". also llamas were originally bred to be a beast of burden while alpacas were bred for fiber production

Answer 8

the name

Answer 9

Closely related, but Llamas are more friendly to people, larger and their fur, though soft, is springy and looks kindof carpet-like. Alpacas are shyer, a good bit smaller, and their fur is long and silky, looking kindof like corn silk.

Answer 10

well I dont know what mastercard commercial you refer to....
but llamas are bigger and more personable.. alpacas dont bond to people nearly as well and even though they are smaller they are better jumpers... they have slight differences in their fiber as well