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The alpaca is one of two domesticated American Camelids; the other is the llama. Their wild cousins are the guanaco and the vicuña. Though they do belong to the camel family, the American camelids do not have the hump on their backs. The lovable alpaca has played an important role in the life of the Andean highland habitants since long before the discovery of America by the Europeans. Through archeological excavations, it is estimated that the alpaca and the llama have been domesticated since 4000 to 5000 years B.C. The first American camelids migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge that connected the continents during prehistoric times. Subsequently their territories expanded to Central and South America. The separation of the continents, thousands of years later, and changes in climate caused the extermination of the camelids in North and Central America. However, modern camelids continued to thrive in the upland plateau of the Andes of South America (Altiplano). This plateau stretches across the SW of Peru, NE of Chile, West of Bolivia and NW of Argentine where alpacas continue to thrive today. During the reign of the Incan Empire, alpaca domestication reached its highest point. Alpaca breeding at the hands of a chosen caste, the “Lama-Michis” or Llama Herders, exceeded the most exacting standards of today’s top breeders. This chaste, through precise breeding, produced domesticated alpacas and vicunas that yielded extremely fine fiber for clothing. The larger llama was bred to carry weight and to provide meat. The clothing made of alpaca and vicuna fiber denoted a higher status in the Incan society. The cloth woven from vicuna fiber was called “campi” and was used exclusively by the royalty. Alpaca fiber was used to create “gami”, a cloth for the use of high-ranking officials and nobility. In 1531, the Spaniards arrived in South America and found a well organized society which they conquered. The Spaniards then assimilated the Incan into their own culture, trying in the process to eliminate all Incan way of life, which was so alien to them. The alpacas that had been central to the Incan social and religious practices were almost exterminated. They competed with the domesticated animals of the Spanish; cows, horses, and sheep, for food. European farm animals need rich pastureland to survive. However, the alpaca and the llama were well adapted to the poor soil conditions common to the region. So the Indians did what they had always done. They moved their herds of alpacas and llamas to higher terrains where the Europeans and their herds could not flourish. This migration saved the alpaca from extinction, but not before most of the alpaca population was lost to hunting and disease. Of the estimated 40-50 million alpacas in the pre-colonial era, less than 3 million existed in Peru by 1980. Due to political upheaval during the last 2 decades, those numbers have not changed significantly. Alpacas have slowly been introduced to the rest of the world, but Peru still has 70-80% of the population, Bolivia has approximately 20% and Chile has even less, with 2%. The first alpacas were exported to the USA from Bolivia and Chile in 1983. Peru, however, considered the alpaca a Peruvian national treasure, and therefore, placed a governmental ban on all exportation of alpaca. This ban was lifted in 1991 and the first Peruvian alpacas arrived in the US in 1993. Compared to other breeding industries, alpaca breeding is very young outside Peru. In the USA, due to the enthusiastic dedication of the American breeders, the numbers are increasing substantially and the quality of the stock is improving due to careful and selective breeding. We are all working toward an ideal goal: “the perfect alpaca”, and a lot of them.
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