Things to know

• Alpacas are gentle animals.
• Many alpacas love to have human visitors.
• Alpacas love to have their picture taken.
• Alpacas can spit, but rarely do unless provoked. And when they do spit, it is generally at each other.

Things to Do

• Approach slowly and calmly.
• Talk in a calm soothing voice
• Keep your hand flat when touching an alpaca and pat with the back of your hand. Grabbing them or their fiber makes them think you are a predator.
• Touch the alpaca on the top of its back, shoulders, and side of its neck.
• Ask the handler what the alpaca prefers — just like people they have personalities with their individual likes and dislikes!

Things to Avoid

• Don’t touch or feed alpacas without asking first.
• Don’t touch an alpacas head, hindquarters, tail, or toes.
• Don’t grab or hug an alpaca.
• Don’t stand behind an alpaca. Like other livestock, alpacas may reflexively kick if you touch their hindquarters or startle them.