Alpacas are a member of the new world camelid family  which includes llamas, vicunas and guanacos. They are indigenous to the South America countries of Peru, Chile and Bolivia. Their numbers there are thought to exceed 2 million.

Alpacas were domesticated about 5000 years ago by ancestral Indians in the Andes Mountains of Peru and to this day the herds are still tended by the modern day descendants of the Incas. The alpaca's fleece is sheared annually and provides a small cash income to their owners. The animals also provide a source of sustenance and for the utility of their hides.

Alpacas are typically found in the Altiplano Region of Peru at elevations of 14,000 feet. To survive in the harsh conditions there, alpacas have evolved and adapted through the millennium. For example, they grow soft, warm fleece to protect themselves from temperatures that can fall below freezing even on summer nights. The females typically birth their young before Noon so that they can dry in the sun before nightfall. Their feet have soft pads with two toenails that minimize damage to the fragile ecosystem.

With the often poor quality and seasonal availability of native grasses and plants, alpacas have become highly efficient converters of forage and water. Their bodies are compact and typically measure 32 to 36 inches at the shoulder. The females average about 135 pounds and the males 150 to 175 pounds as adults.

The females typically start breeding at 18 to 24 months of age and birth a single cria (baby) per year. The average gestation period is 345 days. The males reach maturity by three years of age. With good health, both can continue reproducing in to their middle teen years and live in to their early twenties.

There are two distinct breeds of alpacas. The primary distinction between the two is their fleece architecture. Approximately 95% of the population is the huacaya breed. Their fleece is ideally fine and dense. It stands perpendicular to their body, is gathered in staples and the individual fibers have a distinct crimp. The other breed is called Suris. Their fleece is silky, lustrous and organized in circular locks that drape down from their bodies.

Alpacas come in more than 22 natural colors that include white, beige, and shades of fawn, brown, grey and black. Besides solid colors, they may also display patterns such as appaloosa, stockings, tuxedo and spotted.  

The center of the commercial alpaca industry is located in Arequipa, Peru. There each year, the fiber gathered from the highlands is sorted by color and hand-graded into the different categories of fineness. From there it is baled and may be sold as raw fiber for export or purchased by local commercial mills for conversion to yarn, fabric and finished products. For the finest grades of alpaca fiber, which are similar to cashmere, there is a good demand by the designer fashion industry in Italy and France.