A newborn alpaca enjoyed playing outside for the first time with its mum

A newborn alpaca enjoyed playing outside for the first time with its mum.

Proud mum Imogen, aged eight, is nursing the male brown cria who was 'unpacked' just last week.

The pair were snapped playing outside at Almond Valley Heritage Centre, in West Lothian.

The week-old weighs around 10kg and is being well protected by the rest of the herd.

The week old alpaca born at Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston. Pic: SWNS

Delighted staff also welcomed another female alpaca last month, born to mum Ellie, aged eight, taking the total number of alpacas at the centre to nine.

The newborns, who have not yet been named, are settling in well and are already running around the paddock playing with each other.

Farm manager Craig Holmes, 33, said: "The baby is up and about, he is very active and feeding well - he weighs about 10kg now.

"It's mum Imogen's second baby.

"He is getting on great with the rest of the group, they are very protective of new babies.

"Our month old female is also doing brilliantly, when they hit that one month mark they tend to get very playful.

"The two youngsters are already spending a lot of time together, in a few weeks I imagine they'll be running around the paddock playing with each other.

"It's good to have multiple babies in the group at the same time because they can play and mess around together.

"We are expecting one more baby this season and naming of the two newborns will be put to a public vote to choose the favourite."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription at https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions