First alpaca babies born at Brinsbury College

Brinsbury College has welcomed the births of its first baby alpacas.

The adorable trio of crias – the name for baby alpacas – arrived within days of each other last month, much to the joy of students and staff at the college.

Little Maria has the honour of being the very first cria to be born at Brinsbury – a surprise premature arrival, she kept staff on their toes for the first few days but is now flourishing under the watchful eyes of mum Mia.

Maisie arrived less than a week later, to a very protective Mollie who has taken to life as mum well.

The third, and final, arrival kept everyone waiting with Mabel delivering – or unpacking - a little boy, Murphy, over a week later than expected.

Vicki Warland, an animal care instructor at Brinsbury, said: “All three crias are doing brilliantly, and our three mums are taking great care of them.

“It has been a very special time for us, as these are our first cria births – we have a lot of excited students and staff who are keen to see how they are getting on.

“Mollie in particular has been very protective of little Maisie, spitting at us when we’ve entered their fields to check on the crias. But we’re so pleased with their development – they are all thriving, and it’s wonderful to see.”

The alpaca birthing process is generally known as ‘unpacking’, which comes after an 11.5-month gestation period.

At birth, a cria weighs from six to eight kilograms – growing to up to 70kg as adults.