Droopy lips

I went out to feed tonight and 2 of my girls were standing around with their mouths hanging open. They looked like they had eaten something bad or something that had numbed their lower lip. Scared the crap out of me. Last fall I threw out a bunch of clover seed...some alpacas can't eat clover because they are allergic. I am a nervous wreck all the time that they will eat something that they are not supposed to. So you can imagine my horror to walk into the pen and find this

l

1

1

1

v

They look totally silly!

This is not one of my alpacas, it is a picture from Intrepid Alpacas.

After I closely inspected my girls I ran in he house and got online immediately...

and this is what I found!

The Sulk--When alpacas get upset they will "drop their lip". The bottom lip will become all droopy and fall away exposing the bottom teeth and gums. Some alpacas will take pieces of hay, grass or leaves into their mouths and just hold it there for extra effect. Saliva will sometimes drip from the bottom lip as well. If all this sounds rather pathetic, it is. They are sulking. Don't worry about it. They have probably just come off second best in a disagreement with another alpaca and they will get over it in a few minutes. (Often the sulking alpaca will have a few globs of green spit on their face as evidence of the disagreement!)

Thank goodness I found this explanation!

The silly girls were tiffen ;)