Alpaca Language – The sulk
August 7th 2007 23:22
To sort out their disagreements, male alpacas fight with each other. Females will do a bit of neck wrestling but tend to just have spitting matches rather than getting physical.
Alpaca arguments occur over various things, such as food, personal space, or who is going to mate with that female over there. When an argument occurs, you’ll have a winner and a loser.
It’s easy to pick the alpaca who has just lost. He will be the one with the totally pathetic look on his face. He’ll have his head down, his ears will be laid back on his head, the eyes will have a glazed look and he’ll drop his lip. The dropped lip is the clincher and it’s the funniest thing. His bottom lip will get all sloppy and droopy and hang down exposing his teeth and gums.
You’ll sometimes see some green saliva dripping from his lip and when he really wants to emphasise just how sad he is, he’ll go around and scoop up some pieces of hay, grass or leaves and just let them sit there hanging from his mouth. To add insult to injury, he will usually be sporting a quantity of stinking green spit on his face and neck as well, as evidence of the disagreement.
The losing alpaca will sulk for a few minutes, then he’ll just get over it. I don’t think alpacas hold grudges for very long, although I am sure that some alpacas simply don’t like each other.
Funny thing is, there will be alpacas in your herd who you really like, and some you’re not so fond of. (I’m talking about personalities here rather than fleece quality or show ribbons etc).
You tend to find that the alpacas you particularly like, often like each other, and will hang around together. The friends will have the occasional tiff, but the big feuds usually involve members of opposing groups.
Much like people really.
Alpaca arguments occur over various things, such as food, personal space, or who is going to mate with that female over there. When an argument occurs, you’ll have a winner and a loser.
It’s easy to pick the alpaca who has just lost. He will be the one with the totally pathetic look on his face. He’ll have his head down, his ears will be laid back on his head, the eyes will have a glazed look and he’ll drop his lip. The dropped lip is the clincher and it’s the funniest thing. His bottom lip will get all sloppy and droopy and hang down exposing his teeth and gums.
You’ll sometimes see some green saliva dripping from his lip and when he really wants to emphasise just how sad he is, he’ll go around and scoop up some pieces of hay, grass or leaves and just let them sit there hanging from his mouth. To add insult to injury, he will usually be sporting a quantity of stinking green spit on his face and neck as well, as evidence of the disagreement.
A sulking alpaca
The losing alpaca will sulk for a few minutes, then he’ll just get over it. I don’t think alpacas hold grudges for very long, although I am sure that some alpacas simply don’t like each other.
Funny thing is, there will be alpacas in your herd who you really like, and some you’re not so fond of. (I’m talking about personalities here rather than fleece quality or show ribbons etc).
You tend to find that the alpacas you particularly like, often like each other, and will hang around together. The friends will have the occasional tiff, but the big feuds usually involve members of opposing groups.
Much like people really.
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Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
How fascinating! Having never known the first thing about alpacas--or most other wild animals, for that matter--I'm finding the points you've related quite intriguing!
I appreciated your visiting my blog a little while ago to comment and just wanted to stop by to give you a great big welcome to Orble!
Best regards,
Jeanne
Comment by Rosemary
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
Alpacas are fascinating and they're very funny animals to be around. They're all individuals within their little community and some have the most hilarious personalities!
I love sharing my experiences with them and since I also want to improve my writing skills, Orble sounds like a good place to be. I'm finding out a lot more about things from other blogs too and that's a huge bonus.
Cheers,
Rosemary