Alpacas in the snow at high altitude on the Andes mountains in Peru

I recently came across this interesting photo which is quite unusual.

The photo shows a herd of alpacas in the Andes mountains in Peru. I have previously posted that most of the South American alpacas live in the Alto Plano high plains of Peru which are between 3,000 and 4,000 metres above sea level, and this photo proves it.

Apart from the snow, this photo was clearly taken at a high altitude as the valley behind the alpacas is relatively flat, a sure sign that they are above a glacier behind them, which would only occur above an altitude higher than 3,000 metres above sea level.

I know this after more than 45 years of alpine snow skiing, much of it at high altitudes. The highest that I have personally been is 3,842 metres at the Aguile Midi, Chamonix, France and that's the highest lifted point on the planet. I then skied down through the Vallee Blanche, two and a half thousand vertical metres back to the chalet. What a great day and I sure needed my alpaca ski socks, it was so cold up top!

Anyway, back to the theme, how do alpaca's survive in such harsh conditions? At these altitudes, its freezing in winter and very hot in summer with intense alpine sunlight.

Its all about their wonderful fleece. Over thousands of years, alpacas have developed a unique double fleece, the outer hairs are long and quite coarse to protect the animal from the elements and then they have a soft inner fleece which is semi hollow to warm them in winter and cool them in summer. A natural wonder.

Alpaca fibre is a  perfect filling material for bedding because of its unique properties.

Interested to read more? To view some more reading material, please click here

A short history of alpaca's here

Alpaca fleece ... fibre of the God's .. its true trust me