Suri Alpaca: The Suri breed makes up only 1% of the total Alpaca population. Thanks to the many farms around the world breeding it, is not considered an endangered species.

 

The ideal Suri alpaca has a squared off elegant appearance with four strong legs. It is a graceful, well-proportioned animal with the head and neck being one-third of the body size.  The head of the Suri is apparently slightly smaller than the Huacaya’s and the ears look longer by one to two centimeters.   It is well covered with fiber from the top of the head to the toes. 

 

The Suri fiber is also distinguished by the beauty and lustrous of her long silky dreadlocks that “fall parallel to the sides of the body leaving a superior back line bare.” (Sumar 1998)  The structure of the curl is known as the pencil.   The ideal Suri fiber is composed of well defined and tight pencils.  These characteristics are important to preserve the prototype as well as to help in the fiber processing.

 

 The Suri breed it is said to be more resistant to nutritional changes than the Huacaya, but more susceptible to changes in the environment.

Currently because of the rarity of Fine Suri Fleeces this is the highest paying alpaca fiber in the market.

 

The Suri Fleece is grouped in spiral locks of great length. It is heavier, shiner, and lustrous.  The spirals could be twisted to the right (dextrogiras) or to the left (levogiras.)  These spirals or locks can only be formed with waves or curls of great size and length.

 

        When it comes to Suri fiber this is known to be more uniform to Huacaya which is represented in a histogram under a lower coefficient of variation of finesse.

 The luster found in the Suri's fleece is the primary indication of the animal's quality,