From Chris Riley, owner of the New England Alpaca Fiber Pool (NEAFP) 

➢ More than 6,000 years ago, alpacas were domesticated by the Incas. – Alpacas are herd animals, and can actually die of loneliness if there is only one.
➢ Alpacas are apart of the camelid family. Related to camels, llamas, guanaco, and vicuña.
➢ A baby alpaca is called a “cria.”
➢ Alpacas rarely spit, usually only when annoyed/frustrated.
➢ Alpacas fold their legs underneath their body when sitting into the “kush” position, which makes it easy to transport them inside of a car.
➢ When alpacas eat they act like a lawnmower; cutting off tops of grass instead of ripping at the roots.
➢ An alpacas gestation period on average is 355 days.
➢ Alpaca fiber is considered “hypoallergenic” since it does not contain lanolin, like sheep’s wool does.
➢ Alpacas are very unique in the fact that they create communal dung piles.
➢ The male alpaca mating sound is called “orgling.”
➢ Most alpacas live to be about 18, but some can live as long as age 25.
➢ There are two different breeds of alpaca; huacaya and suri. Huacaya have soft, fluffy, crimped fleece, and suris have silky locks of fiber.
➢ An alpaca’s foot is softly padded, and they don’t tear up the ground like sheep, cows, or other animals do.

About the New England Alpaca Fiber Pool (NEAFP):

The New England Alpaca Fiber Pool (NEAFP) helps thousands of alpaca farms participate in the sustainable textile movement. Alpaca fiber, one of the world’s greatest natural fibers, is grown by thousands of alpaca farms across the USA. By working together & pooling their fiber, farms are able to bring a wide variety of finished clothing and accessories to market – reaching the widest possible audience – at the highest, most sustainable price point for each lb of fiber they grow.
NEAFP has been collecting U.S. grown alpaca fiber and exclusively manufacturing all of it’s products with U.S. Textile Mills since 1997.