A UNIVERSITY of New England scholar has found alpacas are anything but sheepish when it comes to predators.
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Honours student Paige Matthews put the fluffy creatures to the test and found, in some respects, alpacas were more like guard dogs than sheep.
A set of rigorous tests involving a stuffed toy dog, a bright orange cone and hours of footage of alpaca reactions indicates the fleecy livestock are natural guardians.
Ms Matthews ran alpacas through narrow yards to pass either the toy or the brightly coloured cone at the end.
“All of them stopped for the dog,” Ms Matthews said.
“They reacted quite strongly.
“It shows that they are actually looking out for predators.”
Alpacas are often seen among flocks of sheep in a guardian role, however, Ms Matthews said there was little information on the animal apart from anecdotal evidence.
Her research compared the reactions of males with females and the older alpacas with their younger paddock mates.
Ms Matthews said the initial results indicated there wasn’t a great deal of difference between the categories.
“The young ones were just as interested,” she said. “This suggests that looking for predators isn’t learned, it’s an innate ability.”
Ms Matthews conducted her research with the help of Wendy Brown and farmers David and Bronwyn Mitchell, who run the Glenhope Alpacas and Bed and Breakfast.
“We found that alpacas have a rich repertoire of social behaviours, including an interesting array of vocalisations and pronounced ear-movements,” Dr Brown said.
Ms Matthews says the old adage “more research is needed” is true of alpaca behaviour and still has data to comb through, but is excited about her results.