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New at the Zoo: Want to Cuddle?

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By Elizabeth Farrell

Three Huacaya alpacas are among the latest additions to the National Zoo, but you have only a few weeks left to see their thick coats. Check out our photo slideshow of some of these oddly adorable animals.

Leaping llamas...er, alpacas!

The South American animals, all males, were bought from a Virginia farmer, and they bunk with the cows on the Kids’ Farm.

Ziggy, the brown alpaca, is the biggest, weighing 112 pounds and towering at 41⁄2 feet. Cirrus is the white one; his hair is fluffy like a cloud. Orion, the year-old, weighs only 66 pounds.

“They are very curious animals,” says Margaret Kelty, the zookeeper who has been helping the new arrivals settle in. She says that alpacas are among the few animals domesticated specifically for their fiber—a cashmere-like wool used mostly for clothing and blankets.

“We will shear them in late April or early May; otherwise they will be too hot in the summer,” she says.

Check below for our photo slideshow of the zoo's alpacas.

Comments

Nice to see alpacas at a zoo ,as an alpaca owner. I do however take exception with your fence. Alpacas are very curious and the tangled mess of a fence is an accident waiting to happen !

Posted by: Lori | Mar 22, 2008 06:15:47 AM

God, that leaping alpaca just kills me. So cute!

Posted by: Kate | Mar 20, 2008 07:03:37 AM

If you would like to see alpacas, go to the website alpacainfo.com to find a farm near you. Local alpaca breeders are usually very happy to talk about these animals with visitors.

Posted by: Beth | Mar 19, 2008 04:21:49 PM

If you would like to see alpacas, go to the website alpacainfo.com to find a farm near you.

Posted by: Beth | Mar 19, 2008 04:21:20 PM

Those pictures are almost as good as ones I saw of Gettysburgh, PA last year in the Bangor Daily News. I wish I still lived in DC so I could go visit alpacas!

Posted by: DKC | Mar 19, 2008 09:49:11 AM

They are so cute! I love the photos.

Posted by: McSkillet Burrito | Mar 19, 2008 07:37:54 AM

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