Wondering where to go during the summer vacation? Getting up close with animals is a great choice for many family activities. This summer, Leofoo Village Theme Park in Hsinchu’s Guanxi invested NT$5 million to import eight alpacas, commonly known as “grass mud horses,” from New Zealand. Last week, six of them completed their quarantine and made their debut, drawing exclamations of “So cute!” from visitors who saw their chubby, adorable looks. The park also launched the “Search for Alpaca Bro and Alpaca Sis” campaign. Visitors who upload their funniest alpaca-mimicking expressions to Leofoo Village’s official fan page for a vote have a chance to win an annual Leofoo Village passport.
Mimicking alpaca expressions could earn you an annual Leofoo Village passport. (Photo provided by Leofoo Village Theme Park)
With summer vacation in full swing, theme parks are pulling out all the stops to attract visitors. Leofoo Village Theme Park has specially imported the hugely popular animal star “alpaca” from New Zealand. Belonging to the camelid family, alpacas look like a mix between camels and sheep, covered in thick wool similar to that of sheep. Their especially chubby and adorable expressions make them even more endearing, hence their playful nickname “grass mud horse.”
Alpacas’ super adorable looks are loved by both adults and children. (Photo provided by Leofoo Village Theme Park)
Wang Yung-hao, manager of the marketing and public relations department at Leofoo Village, said that alpacas belong to the order Artiodactyla, family Camelidae, and typically live in cooler highland regions. About 90% reside in the highlands of Peru and Chile in South America, with the rest distributed across Australia and New Zealand. The park imported the alpacas from New Zealand this time, but unfortunately encountered the recent extreme heatwave. Therefore, during the two-week quarantine period before their debut, the park took special care of them. In addition to feeding them 3.5 kilograms of specially prepared feed daily — which includes high-protein feed, hay, alfalfa blocks, and green pasture — the “grass mud horses” were kept in air-conditioned indoor spaces, and occasionally misted with water to help cool down, in order to help them adapt to Taiwan’s hot climate.
Official website of Leofoo Village:
http://www.leofoo.com.tw/village/