The Day I Learned About the Existence of the Alpaca and How It Will Help Stop the Oil Spill

I got this off my tumblr page.

The creature you see in the picture isn’t a camel or a llama about to get its death wish from a blade. That animal is called an alpaca, an animal considered as domesticated from some parts of South America like Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. This animal looked a tiny version of a llama. And why am I suddenly blogging about an alpaca, a creature that I didn’t know existed until today?

Despite its size, the alpaca is not apparently bred as a beast of burden like tamaraws, cows, or water buffaloes in Asia; they are bred specifically for their high-quality fiber. Surely we can’t expect wool and other weaving materials for textiles to come from sheep alone right? Right now, the fur of the alpaca in the image above with be among the fiber shorn from 100 alpacas at Eastland Alpaca Farm in Pennsylvania, United States to be donated for a good cause: to help stop the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.