Random Alpaca Cuteness

I am of the opinion that the primary purpose of a farm 'blog is to impart cuteness to the Internet. This 'blog has been seriously shirking in that duty.

Today's bit of alpaca cuteness involves another species. In this particular photograph, the other species happens to be a chicken, but this has also happened with baby bunnies when my camera was inaccessible. Now, the alpacas have all seen chickens before, but this was no ordinary chicken; this was a young Polish chicken, a breed that has a giant, poofy ball of feathers atop its head. I have come to appreciate that alpacas are an extremely visual species, and this chicken looked VERY different from any other chicken they had previously seen.

Alpacas are also very curious -- remarkably so for an herbivore. Rather than fleeing from this new creature, they were drawn to it. I looked out the window to see the whole female herd gathered around this tiny, ridiculous chicken that was bopping casually through their pasture.

I didn't ready my camera in time to capture the whole herd assembly, but I did catch a few of the most curious.

Millie had to investigate her first.

Silverado came to investigate next. (These are two of the three alpha females of the herd -- I call the three of them the Big Girls' Club.)

They were eventually joined by Valencia. She is a shy maiden female, but she was particularly curious about the Polish.

One of these days, I'll manage to capture a photo of the whole herd investigating a New Thing. It's pretty remarkable. It's also brain-shatteringly adorable, so I have to capture it -- for the good of the Internet, you understand.