Baby alpaca is born at Hartlip farm
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This baby alpaca is proving to be a
little fighter.
The females don’t usually have their
offspring until April but this cria, as the young are called, was
born on Monday, January 16, at Valley Alpaca Farm, Hartlip.
Owners Kirstie and Andy Brown have
been making sure the male alpaca called Nero, which means black in
Italian, survives the cold weather by putting a special coat on him
to keep him warm.
For the last week they have also carried out checks
on both mother and baby every couple of hours.
Mrs Brown said: "They’re
pregnant for 11 months so mum fell pregnant about February last
year after she mated with a male through the fence.
"They’re usually born end of March
beginning of April at the earliest when it is warm so it was touch
and go whether he would survive or not. We have been surprised at
how well he is doing as they’re not very hardy animals. The babies’
mortality rate is 70% in the wild.
"We took the coat off him on Monday as
he’s now a week old and he has been feeding well so we thought he
would be strong enough to weather the cold.
"Babies usually lay close to their
mothers so he gets body heat from her that way and when he lays
down she’s almost on top of him."
Monday, January 23 2012
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