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What are Alpacas? From Wikipedia.org : The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated breed of South American camel -like ungulates , derived from the wild vicuña . It resembles a sheep in appearance, but is larger and has a long erect neck. Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru , northern Bolivia , and northern Chile at an altitude of 3500 to 5000 meters above sea-level, throughout the year. Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas and unlike them are not used as beasts of burden but are valued only for their fiber (wool), used for making blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarfs, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, blankets, socks and coats in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 22 natural colours. Alpacas and llamas differ in that llamas have banana shaped ears and long tails and alpacas have straght ears and stubby tails. In the textile industry, "alpaca" primarily refers to the hair of Peruvian alpaca, but more broadly it refers to a style of fabric originally made from alpaca hair but now often made from similar fibers, such as mohair , Icelandic sheep wool, or even high-quality English wool. In trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohair and lustre. However, as far as the general purchaser is concerned, little or no distinction is made. Alpaca Fertility Relationship Between Testicle Size and Fertility in Alpacas by P. Walter Bravo Deciding whether to consider a male as a sire includes evaluation of testicle size and growth. Testicles are the reproductive organs that secrete the male hormone testosterone and produce spermatozoa. Testosterone gives the male his masculine characteristics, like size, muscular mass, and the sexual desire to breed females. A spermatozoon fertilizing an ovum provides one-half of the genetic material of the next generation. A sire must have two testicles. The testicles are ovoid in shape and located beneath the anus within the scrotum, which is less pendulous than in rams or bulls. Both testicles should be of equal size. In South America, male alpacas with testicles of unequal size are castrated when they are one and a half or two years old. Males at this age show an exacerbated sexual desire or libido that coincides with a rapid increase of testosterone concentrations in the blood. Elevated concentrations of testosterone accelerate the closure of the growth plates, at which point males stop growing. If a male is castrated at a younger age, the growth plates remain open, and it grows taller and has a somewhat finer bone structure than intact males. As in other livestock species, there is a relationship between testicle size and age. At birth the testicles are small (2/5 inch or 1 centimeter in length) and flaccid. Sometimes they may not be in the scrotum and are difficult to palpate. Testicles should be in the scrotum by six months of age. Table 1 lists testicle sizes at different ages according to averages calculated from more than three hundred male alpacas in the Peruvian highlands.