Alpacas are South American camelids. Photo supplied.

Fossils in North America prove that many millions of years ago camelids ranged in size from animals as small as rabbits to those that were up to four metres tall.  All species of these ancient camelids are now extinct but it is believed that many survived until relatively recently, disappearing possibly because of hunting or forced habitat change by the earliest human settlers.

Ironically no camelids survived in North America.  The Old World camels migrated west to Asia and across to Africa while the South American camelids migrated south to the South American continent.  Three ‘species groups’ of camels/camelids survive today: the Dromedary of North Africa (one hump), the Bactrian camel of central Asia (two humps) and the camelids of South America.

There are four species of South American camelids, the llama is the largest, followed by the guanaco, the alpaca and finally the vicuna.  The llama and alpaca are domesticated breeds, there are no wild llama or alpacas.  The guanaco and vicuna are wild, and none have been domesticated.  The llama has been used as a pack animal for centuries and the alpaca as a fleece animal – hence llamas have been bred for size and alpacas for fine, luxurious fleece.

The South American camelids inter-breed easily.  There are several theories regarding the ancestry of llamas and alpacas but many people believe that llamas were originally bred from the guanaco and alpacas from the vicuna.  However, given the mountain environment from which they originate, peasant farming communities and the lack of fences or other separations it is very likely that today’s domesticated camelids carry blood from all four species. 

There are two types of alpaca, called huacaya and suri. The huacaya’s fleece grows like sheep’s wool, at right angles to the body, and displays crimp – again like sheep’s wool. This is the animal most people visualise when they hear the word ‘alpaca’.  The suri fleece hangs down in long silky locks, giving the animal a leaner look. 

Whether they were originally two different breeds of camelid, or the same breed with a different fleece type, is open to discussion.  Depending on which reports you read, suris make up between 5% and 10% of the alpaca population worldwide.

In Australia and New Zealand breeders cross suri and huacaya to increase numbers of suri offspring.  This crossbreeding has proven that the suri gene is dominant over the huacaya gene.  Usually a suri sire is used over a huacaya dam. In America crossbreeding is frowned upon, they believe it will result in an inferior alpaca with a poor fleece type which is neither suri nor huacaya – the dreaded intermediate breed known as a ‘chilli’ in South America. 

In fact the suri fleece type results from just one gene, and if the alpaca carries it, it will be suri.  There is no such thing as an intermediate type, but there are alpacas of both breeds with poor fleeces.

 If a top quality suri sire is put over a top quality huacaya dam the suri cria will still inherit quality genetics from both parents giving it a quality fleece.  It will be a quality suri.