Can Dame Kelly Holmes's alpacas run faster than her?
How fast can an Alpaca Run?
Can an Alpaca run faster than Dame Kelly Holmes? We investigate!
Did you know Dame Kelly kept alpacas? Apparently she has a lovely little herd, that she originally purchased after realising they can be good 'lawnmowers', according to Great British Life.
Discovering Dame Kelly's love for these gorgeous animals, got me thinking about a question we're asked a lot! 'How fast can an alpaca run'? As fast as Dame Kelly or not? Alpacas are well known for being very laid back. Most of their days are spent munching away and when we take them out with our guests on walking experiences, it's normally a slow, ambling process. Very rarely does an alpaca pick up much of a pace. So it often comes as a complete surprise to our guests when they find out that an alpaca can actually reach a top speed of a whopping 35mph! So Dame Kelly may be very fast in the human world, but she certainly would not be able to keep up with one of her alpacas!
Alpacas are of course herd animals and use their speed to avoid predators when necessary. But you're highly unlikely to ever see an alpaca at full speed, they'd much rather be mooching along, munching away at a fresh patch of grass.
Andrea Stevens-Moore
Co owner of Middle England Farm, Henley in Arden, Warwickshire
(Photo credit to Archant and if you'd like to read more about Dame Kelly and her herd please click
here. )
