Children's Animal Farm

Animal of the Month

PIPER

Meet the goofiest member of the family. Piper is a llama that was born on the farm almost 20 years ago by most estimates.

Llama facts:

• Trying to tell the difference between a llama and an alpaca? Two obvious things to look for: Llamas are generally about twice the size of alpacas, and alpacas have short, pointy ears, whereas llamas have much longer ears that stand straight up and give them an alert look.
• A baby llama is called a "cria" which is Spanish for baby. It's pronounced KREE-uh.
• Llama have no top teeth and grind their food so try not to give them large hard pieces of fruit or veggies.
• A group of llamas is a herd.
• Their droppings do not have an odour so they are good for fertilizer.

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Piper facts:

Despite what people think, this llama does not spit... maybe because he's pretty chill and doesn't get angry. If he does it's an accident from coughing and "cud" comes out since he can't cough into an elbow like we do. (Llamas have 3 stomachs and "cud" is partially digested food returned from the first stomach to its mouth for further chewing).

He loves to follow Lily the jersey cow wherever she goes, likely to make sure he's not missing out on any treats.

His favourite treat is grapes, and he really does not like lettuce and if you watch he doesn't like to eat food off the ground, preferring it is given directly to him.

He looks at times like he has an chipmunk cheeks causing some guests to be concerned but that is his cud.

He gets a hair cut every other year.

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