History of Alpacas
The Alpaca is a member of the South American camelid family, which includes the
Llama, the Vicuna and the Guanaco. Among its more distant relatives are the
African Dromedary camel and the Asian Bactrian camel. It is believed that the
ancestors of the Alpacas migrated from the North American Southwest to the
Andean region more than 50 million years ago. While they became extinct in the
north, in the south the Alpaca’s wild ancestors were domesticated by the Indian
populations of the region and evolved – approximately 7,000 years ago – into
what we know today as Alpacas and Llamas. The Vicuna and Guanaco are considered
to be of the same biological species as the Alpaca and Llama. DNA tests
performed by experts indicate that the Alpaca is the result of selective
breeding of Vicuna stock and that the Llama is a direct descendant of the
Guanaco.
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