Question 2

Do these llama things lay eggs?

G'day Mike,

Thanks for your question. Since I know that you are an experienced alpaca breeder, I think I know why you have asked this question. I know that you are just pulling my leg. But, your question has become somewhat of a joke in our industry at shows and other gatherings where the public are first introduced to alpacas and llamas. The question that you have asked invariably comes up and our normal answer is, "No, you are probably thinking of emus".

Just to make life more interesting, however, I thought that I would say, "Yes, they do lay eggs, in a fashion". They don't sit on a nest and lay eggs with shells like chickens do. They do, however, manufacture an egg that gets fertilised in the uterine tube, works its way to the uterus about three days later and, ultimately, grows into a fetus and then a cria (baby alpaca).

Frequently, more than one egg is fertilised and survives for a few weeks or even months. We suspect the "mother nature" knows that an alpaca doesn't produce enough milk to adequately feed more than one cria, so the weaker fetus will usually die long before the end of the 11-month gestation period. The number of twin births in New Zealand can probably be counted on one hand.

All the best,

Chuck Rademacher