GUEST COLUMNllama (Lama glama), and its wild cousin,
the guanaco (Lama guanicoe). While llama
wool is sometimes used for knitting, it lacks
the fine quality of alpaca yarn. Collectively,
the llama, alpaca, guanaco and vicuña are
known as the ‘New World camelids’.
The alpaca’s distant relatives can be found
throughout Africa and Asia. One species,
the bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)
has been introduced into Australia and
now roams around the Outback. The
bactrian camel originated in Asia and has
two humps on its back, which are believed
to help protect the camel against excessive
heat while also providing a store of fat. The
dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius)
is the one-humped variety and is found
throughout Africa. Both the bactrian and
dromedary have been domesticated for
thousands of years, and much like the
alpaca, are used as a source of yarn.
IT TAKES GUTS TO BE AN ALPACA
In the wild, the alpaca typically feeds on
grasses and leaves. This is also true in
alpaca farms: the diet commonly consists of
grass, hay and occasionally a pelleted ration.
However, the alpaca has a strange secret in
its digestive system: it has three stomachs.
These three stomachs allow the alpaca to
digest its tough, fibrous diet.
After being swallowed, food enters the first
stomach, which is known as a rumen. Unlike
the stomach of a human, this rumen is not
acidic. Large amounts of food, some of which
may have been in the rumen for several days,
mix with saliva. This sounds like a very
unhygienic set-up – and it is. This rumen is
filled with trillions of bacteria, which begin
to digest the chewed grasses and hay.
To make matters even less hygienic,
the alpaca then regularly regurgitates
mouthfuls of food. The semi-digested
vegetation enters the mouth and is
rechewed at leisure. Unlike in humans, this
regurgitation or ‘rumination’ is an enjoyable
experience for the alpaca: they can often
be seen ruminating when they are relaxed.
Once the food is thoroughly chewed once
more, the alpaca swallows the food and it
re-enters the rumen for more mixing.
For the alpaca, bacteria are useful
allies. The bacteria help to break down
tough fibrous materials in their diets.
The chewing then helps to increase the
surface area of food particles, which
increases the amount of space for bacteria
to do their work. After breaking down the
fibre, the bacteria give out fatty acids as a
waste product. These fatty acids are then
absorbed through the stomach wall and are
used by the alpaca as a food source.
The story becomes stranger still. After
sitting for several days in the rumen, the
bacteria-food mix moves into the next
stomach compartment, the omasum, and
from there into the abomasum. This last
stomach is a bit like a human stomach: it
is acidic. The bacteria, which have been
lovingly cultured in the rumen, now find
themselves in an acidic environment where
they themselves are digested. After leaving
the abomasum, the microbial proteins are
absorbed through the gut as a secondary
energy source for the alpaca.
So, in short, the alpaca does not actually
use grass as a food source. Instead, it
outsources the hard work of digesting grass
to its bacterial partners, and it takes the
rewards from this partnership. As thanks for
their hard work, the bacteria are eventually
digested and used as a food source themselves.
This shows a slightly darker side to what we
normally consider to be a harmless herbivore.‘AL’ THE ALPACA
As part of this article, I decided to try
crocheting an alpaca. I found an excellent
recipe in Edward’s Menagerie by Kerry
Lord, and bought a ball of alpaca yarnfor the occasion. The resulting toy is not
exactly zoologically accurate: he sits up in
a very unnatural fashion on two legs! I did,
however, manage to produce the ‘mane’
by creating loops of crochet stitches. The
colours, fortunately, were realistic as both
white and grey are common in alpacas. After
a week of careful work, ‘Al Paca’ was finished.
We have a small herd of alpacas at
Sparsholt’s Animal Management Centre, so
one rainy afternoon I decided to introduce
Al to the rest of the herd. Rather than
welcome him, the herd eyed him with some
suspicion. Perhaps they recognised the yarn
he had been made from!
Despite having been kept by humans
for thousands of years, the alpaca still has
many unusual quirks. With its soft fleece,
this strange animal is fascinating to work
with. Alpaca farms are becoming more
common throughout the UK, which may be
a good sign for those of us who are keen on
working with their yarn!James Brereton is a lecturer in Zoo Biology
at University Centre Sparsholt. During
his spare time, he knits and crochets
zoologically accurate animals.