Sunday, 1/7/07 ride

[tygab]

Yes, those are alpacas, which are much more common these days than llamas.
How to tell?
1. Smaller - alpacas are much shorter than llamas, roughly 2/3rds the size of a full llama
2. Very fuzzy (actually, one of the two kinds is the fuzzy ones, huacayas, and the others have long locks like a weeping willow, those are called suris. Huacayas are much more common).
3. Ears - llama ears are long, and curved. Alpaca ears are short and spear shaped.

It can be hard to tell at a distance. I have a few which live at farms (I don't have the land). There are actually quite a few farms around and getting more common. NE has a lot of them in proportion to the amount of farming done here...

[DeniseGoldberg]

Yes, those are alpacas, which are much more common these days than llamas.
How to tell...

Thanks for the details on how to tell these two apart!

--- Denise