Weird Animal Feet ? Strange Animals & Bizarre Photos, Alpaca

strange animal feet, alpaca feet, weird animals, alpacas, animal photos, andes animals, alpaca information — What the? (Image credit: Jennifer Zoon, Smithsonian's National Zoo)

Guess who? Though these weird tootsies may spark the imagination, these are not the feet of a mythical beast featured in the pages of a Harry Potter book.

The luxurious fur and claw-like toes belong to an animal that needs both for its high-mountain lifestyle: an alpaca.

Domesticated by the Inca people in the Andes Mountains more than 5,000 years ago, alpacas are prized for their soft yet remarkably strong fur, which the Incas used to make everything from clothing to rope to tapestries.

Although they're smaller, alpacas belong to the same family as camels and llamas. Large hearts and lungs supply the furry quadrupeds with plenty of oxygen, helping them thrive in mountainous regions.

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