🦙 Llamas and alpacas
Also known as: camelids
South American camelids: wool and meat; milk is a rarity.
Llamas and alpacas are domesticated South American camelids, descendants of the wild guanaco and vicuña. They have been raised in the Andes for several thousand years. Llamas serve mainly as pack animals and a source of meat and wool, while alpacas are valued mostly for their soft, fine fleece.
According to the FAO, llamas and alpacas were historically not kept for milk, and little is known about its composition and use. Alpaca milk is known to be richer in protein and minerals than the milk of other camelids and cow’s milk, and, as in camels, no measurable beta-lactoglobulin has been found in llama milk. Llama milk is fairly sweet because it is high in lactose.
The FAO calls llama and alpaca milk an underused food and economic resource of South America’s mountain regions. In practice they are hardly ever milked: females give little, and the milk is needed by their young. So the milk of these animals is of interest mainly to comparative milk science.
What it includes
How it connects to milk
🦙 Llamas and alpacas → kind of → 🐄 Dairy animals → kind of → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Part of
- 🐄 Dairy animals
Frequently asked questions
Are llamas and alpacas milked?
Almost never: they are raised for wool, meat and carrying loads, and the milk is left for their young.
What is the difference between a llama and an alpaca?
The llama is larger and used as a pack animal; the alpaca is smaller and valued for its fleece. Both are domestic camelids of the Andes.
Similar
🐐 Small ruminants · 🐪 Camels · 🐎 Equids · 🦌 Cervids · 🐄 Cattle