Hi friends near and far! This is Rob with Ambassador Animals here to answer probably one of the most frequently asked questions for our team of animals! That question, of course, is do these alpacas spit? The answer probably doesn’t surprise anyone and that is … absolutely they do! Spitting, while maybe gross to us, is a critical way that these animals communicate with each other. Now before we get into that, though, we must answer a different question first. Just what really are these animals even spitting, anyway?
The truth is that the “spit” coming from these beautiful South American camelids is only partially spit. There is definitely a whole ton of saliva in the frothy mixture exploding from the alpaca’s mouth up to 10 feet away in whatever direction they are intending, but there also is much more to the deliciously disgusting concoction. You see, llamas, alpacas, guanacos, vicuña, and camels (the aforementioned Camelid group), all are actually projectile vomiting more than they are spitting. The green grassy glob flying from their mouths is comprised of regurgitated grass, stomach acid, and then some saliva to round it out. In fact, often times after a solid projectile vomiting session, the alpacas will proceed to open-mouth breathe, drink some water, or eat some food to get the taste out of their own mouths!
So now that we have established that alpacas do spit, that the spit is actually vomit, and that they don’t even like the taste themselves, it does beg the question, why do it then? Well, the answer is very simple but also extremely complex at the same time. Isn’t that fun? The simple answer is because it is a very clear message that is being delivered. That message of course being, “Hey! I don’t like that!” Now the complex answer is what exactly “that” is in a variety of different contexts. Alpacas may spit to establish dominance amongst each other, to reject potential dating partners (a much more effective method than swiping left, I must say), to argue over the best food, to establish personal space, or to protect themselves as a self defense mechanism. So a singular alpaca, spitting may mean a variety of things at any one time, but whatever they may be feeling, we can guarantee they feel very strongly about that thing.
So the final question to round out this “Gross-ology” is: How often do alpacas spit at people? Well, that I can’t answer for any alpacas that aren’t here at Zoo Atlanta, but I can say our alpacas with us in Ambassador Animals never really spit at us. We aren’t super interested in ever putting the alpacas in a position they need to defend themselves from us, we respect their personal space, and we certainly aren’t competing with them for food. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t get caught in the crossfire between two of the alpacas and whatever sibling rivalry is going on at any one time, but the goal is the alpacas will never need to give us their strongest way of saying, “Hey! I don’t like that!”
(photo: Robert A.)
Robert A.
Keeper III, Ambassador Animals