The six extant members of the camelid group are the Bactrian camel, Arabian camel or dromedary, llama, alpaca, vicuna and guanaco, all of whom produce hair or fleece of more of less coarseness for clothing and furnishings.

The two Afro- Asian Camelus, the dromedary and the Bacterian camel, have long adapted to harsh environments and near waterless desert life , providing the only reliable transport across some of the harshest environments in the world … the camel train.

Camel hair has long been valued for its durability and warmth

The other four camelids are essentially from South America, but are farmed across the world for their fleeces, especially in Europe, Australasia and North America.

Vicuna and Alpaca are both Vicugna , of these  the alpaca is the more domesticated and provides plenty of long hair for weaving and knitting.

Vicuna mostly live wild, in the Andes, although some are farmed especially for their fleece.

Guanaco and it’s domesticated cousin llama are both lama, and again prized for their fleeces

Esrygn in Wales breed Guanaco and sell their wool

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