Llamas and Alpacas Are More Similar Than You Might Think

For everyone trying to find llamas on our website, fear not because we have the next best thing: alpacas! That’s right, llamas and alpacas are more similar than you might think. Both are adorable, of course. Both are found primarily in South America. And, as any zoologist will gladly tell you, alpacas and llamas both are descended from the same family of animals that also gave us the camel! 

The first thing that you should know about llamas and alpacas is that they are both domesticated animals at this point in history – you’re very unlikely to find roaming hordes of llamas or alpacas any more, even if you spend a few weeks in the high South American Andes mountains. And that’s especially the case with alpacas, which are universally known to be gentle, curious and docile. It would be hard to have a pet llama (which are primarily used as pack animals these days), but it’s quite possible to have a pet alpaca. 

Image source: Peruhop.com

If you compare them head-to-head, you’ll immediately see that alpacas are actually quite a bit smaller than llamas. If you think that llamas are incredibly cute and adorable, wait until you see an alpaca! The average llama stands four feet high at the shoulder and weighs between 286 and 341 pounds, but the average alpaca only stands three feet high at the shoulder and weighs less than 150 pounds. (By way of comparison, their distant ancestor – the camel – stands an average of six and one-half feet tall!) 

From the way we look at things, the difference between llama and alpaca is like the difference between an adult dog and a puppy. Llamas are cute, but alpacas are way cuter. Alpacas even make a special little noise called humming (it sounds a lot like “mmmm”) that makes them even that much more adorable. 

And there’s one more thing that you should know about alpacas – they’re incredibly soft to the touch. Like, really, really soft. They are specifically bred for their beautiful fleece fiber that can be transformed into incredibly soft sweaters and jackets. 

That’s one of the reasons why we eventually decided to offer an alpaca kigurumi, in fact. The alpaca kigurumi is made of extra-soft pastel fluff, so it’s just like hanging around with your favorite alpaca. The extremely soft textured fur is so wonderfully cozy that you’ll enjoy hanging around with your friends in either the blue or pink pastel alpaca kigurumi. (Full disclosure here – in the wild, there are no blue or pink alpacas!) 

And we’ve added a few extra features to our alpaca kigurumi to make it as adorable and cute as possible – like starry eyes, a blushing face, and a sticky-outy tongue. We’ve even added a little tail and perky alpaca ears. So the next time someone starts talking about “llama, llama red pajama” – tell him or her that there are even cuter alpaca pajamas in blue and pink.  

 Llama or alpaca? Alpaca or llama? From where we see things, they are basically the same thing. Except, well, alpacas might have the slight edge in the cuteness department.