It's a good way to summarize information that people want to know. So here's Wilpaca Farm's version of Alpaca FAQs .
Alpacas are members of the South American camelid family.
Alpacas have been domesticated for over 5,000 years, and primarily come from Bolivia, Chile and Peru. While there are several million alpacas in South America, there are only about 30,000 in the United States. The first import into the U.S. was in 1984. Alpacas don't always look alike. There are many more huacaya alpacas in the U.S. than there are suris.