Meet a Trio of Alpacas now living at the Monterey Zoo

Joining the camels at the Monterey Zoo in recently constructed enclosures are three alpacas: Fez, Amador and Jackson.

Alpacas are biologically related to camels and like their Asian cousins have been domesticated for specific purposes. They are more closely related to three other South American hoofed animals: the much larger llama which too has been domesticated but as a beast of burden and two wild relatives. The vicuña (from which alpacas are believed to have descended) and the rare guanaco still can be found in established park areas of the Andes. All inhabit the high plateaus of the Andes Mountains.

Alpacas were domesticated thousands of years ago for the quality of their fur, referred to as "fiber" not wool. It is among the softest, most dense and therefore warmest of animal fibers. Through crossbreeding, the ancient Americans were able to breed alpacas in more than 16 different natural colors.

In addition, unlike wool, alpaca hair has no prickly feeling to it. It's very soft. It also contains no lanolin so is considered to be hypo-allergenic.

"They look a lot better now than when you saw them the last time," said Charlie Sammut, the Monterey Zoo's director. I had photographed them soon after their exhibition area was opened. Unfortunately, they were just about ready for their summer shearing and truly looked a bit ragged.

Fez is white, Jackson is chocolate brown, and Amador sports several party colors.

"He's fun to touch," said Lanier Fairchild, who lead Fez, the tall white alpaca, from the exhibit space over to the open lawn. "He's got such soft fur."

"They seem to have grown a bit," said Jenna Mosqueza, another zoo assistant who personally guided the somewhat skittish Amador, whose markings are a breathtaking range of colors.

"We like to take them up to the event tent and let them walk around," Fairchild said as the alpacas this time stayed close at hand.

"Jackson is so curious about the other animals," Sammut said. " He walks right up to the warthog and checks him out thoroughly." Butch the male African elephant is also fascinated by the alpacas when they wander up the road past the elephant sanctuary.

All three alpacas have different personalities. Jackson, the chocolate brown one, seems to be the gentlest and loves to chew alpaca chow directly from a human's hand.

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The three alpacas are all males, still relatively young and scheduled to be neutered soon.

"Hoof stock, whether it be camels, llamas, horses, are all the same," Sammut said. "It's best to just eliminate any possible problems.

One of the attributes of domesticated animals is the ease at which they can be bred in captivity. Alpacas have no problem. They breed quite easily and large herds of them are kept throughout South America's mountains.

"Pet-wise," Sammut said. Alpacas are really the only one of the four types of South American camelids that the average person can keep. "They are high maintenance. They have to be shaved by a professional. If you don't spend time with them, they can be formidable." A full grown alpaca can weigh 100 to 120 pounds.

One other advantage of keeping alpacas is their ability to resist fleas and ticks. Some can fight them off quite well, others not as greatly. But their hair is so dense it's hard for fleas or ticks to get through it.

Alpacas, like horses, have to have their teeth trimmed and their hoofs attended to.

Curiously, alpacas have fussy toilet habits which have made them plausible indoor pets. They identify one part of the pasture as a dung pile and will not graze in that area only defecate there. Often one female will head toward the dung pile and the rest of the herd will follow her, They put themselves in a line and then all go at once. After they're finished, they wander back to their another part of the field.

Contact Joe Truskot at jtruskot@thecalifornian.com, follow him on Twitter @truskot_salnews and like his Facebook.com/joetruskot page.