What does a day in the life of an alpaca look like? What do they do? What do they eat? How do they get through the day and how much does an alpaca actually sleep in a day? We answer all these questions in this blog where we take a day-long look into the life of an alpaca.
06.40 sunrise
It is still early in the morning, but the alpacas are already well awake. It’s not yet very warm in the morning so this is the ideal time for an alpaca to eat and gather (some of) the day’s food. After this, they go back to rest for a while.
08.30 food
Feeding time! The owner gives them extra pellets in addition to roughage and possibly grass. For a moment there is a spike in enthusiasm as they collect all the food they can get. After this, it’s time for rest again.
11.55 more rest
To properly digest all the food the alpacas collected in the morning, they need plenty of rest. In a day, an alpaca spends about 8 to 9 hours a day ruminating. That means a large part of the day is spent on this. They like to combine this with rest where they stand still or lie down.
14.15 temperature
This middle of the day, it can get quite warm in summer. When it’s very hot, the alpaca stops grazing and prefers to lie in the shade. This also gives them some extra time to digest the pellets and roughage (which contains more fibre) calmly by ruminating.
18.00 bowel movements
We haven’t mentioned it before, but of everything that goes in, some will have to come out. An alpaca spends about three hours a day urinating and defecating, giving them another thing to do during their day.
22.45 sunset
After a day of playing, eating, ruminating, defecating, urinating, resting and sleeping, it is time for the “end” of the day. Often alpacas are well active again around this time. A fun fact is that alpacas also communicate with each other for several hours a day. Who knows, they might even discuss the day for a while. But even after that, it’s time to rest again. And then the day starts all over again – that is the wonderful life of an alpaca!