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A pair of Huacaya alpacas near an Inca burial site in Peru. Due to the successful manufacture of various alpaca cloths by Sir Titus Salt and other Bradford manufacturers, a great demand for alpaca wool arose, which could not be met by the native product. Apparently, the number of alpacas available never increased appreciably.
Alpacas were domesticated thousands of years ago. The Moche people of Northern Peru often used alpaca images in their art. [6] Traditionally, alpaca were bred and raised in herds, grazing on the level meadows and escarpments of the Andes, from Ecuador and Peru to Western Bolivia and Northern Chile, typically at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 metres (11,000 to 16,000 feet) above sea level. [7]
A picture of a huacaya alpaca. A drawing of a Huacaya alpaca. The Huacaya alpaca is one of two breeds of alpaca, [3] the other breed being the Suri alpaca. [4] Both breeds were first domesticated by the Incas thousands of years ago from a wild species of camelid, the vicuña.
The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos. Camelids are even-toed ungulates classified in the order Artiodactyla, along with species including whales, pigs, deer, cattle, and antelopes.
Both archaeological research and archival documents refer to the existence of camelid herds on the coast long before the Inca conquest: from pre-ceramic times. They must have fed in the hilly region and in the carob forests, which today are almost totally depredated. When the hills dried out, the animals fed on the pods of the carob trees.
Llamas and alpacas were usually pastured high up in the Andes above cultivatable land, at 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) elevation and even higher. [20] Llamas and alpacas were very important providing "wool, meat, leather, moveable wealth," and "transportation." [9] The Inca also bred and domesticated ducks and guinea pigs as a source of meat. [21]
The vicuña (Lama vicugna) or vicuna [3] (both / v ɪ ˈ k uː n j ə /, very rarely spelled vicugna, its former genus name) [4] [5] is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes; the other camelid is the guanaco, which lives at lower elevations.
A male Andean cock-of-the-rock, a species found in humid Andean forests and the national bird of Peru Herds of alpacas near Ausangate mountain Main article: Fauna of the Andes The Andes are rich in fauna: With almost 1,000 species, of which roughly 2/3 are endemic to the region, the Andes are the most important region in the world for ...