Newborn alpaca plays outside for first time

By Filipa Gaspar

Adorable pictures show a newborn alpaca playing outside for the first time.

The unnamed cria was born to mom Melody on July 20 at around 7.30 am - and was standing up at 8 am.

The young female, who is white in color, was born at Hillview Animal Park in West Fife, Scotland.

The alpaca is being looked after by the herd along with another two-week-old cria.

Craig Holmes, 37, owner of the park, said: "We knew the mom was due because she looked very pregnant - she still got another one to give birth to.

"Because they are quite slim animals you can see when they are quite heavily pregnant.

"The three babies we have had born so far this year have been girls which is good."

After having a romp in the grass, the male and female alpacas are then reintroduced a few weeks later.

If the female spits at the male it indicates she is pregnant, rather than lying down for another mating session.

Craig explained that it is harder to identify if they are pregnant through a scanner so they use 'spit off' instead.

He said that the name for the newborn alpaca will be chosen by their Facebook followers after the team at the park selects their favorite names starting with the letter 'D'.

The park has six adult alpacas, three baby alpacas, different breeds of goats, sheep, deer, donkeys and chickens.