<p>Felimon Paxi Menezes installs a plastic vagina in an alpaca dummy used to collect semen at the Quimsachata Research and Production Center, in Puno, Peru. Researchers aim to create breeds with finer wool and greater resilience to extreme conditions, and to improve their reproductive capacity.</p>
2023 Photo Contest, South America, Stories

Alpaqueros

Photographer

Alessandro Cinque

Pulitzer Center/National Geographic
23 November, 2022

Felimon Paxi Menezes installs a plastic vagina in an alpaca dummy used to collect semen at the Quimsachata Research and Production Center, in Puno, Peru. Researchers aim to create breeds with finer wool and greater resilience to extreme conditions, and to improve their reproductive capacity.

Vital to the livelihoods of many people in the Peruvian Andes, alpacas face new challenges due to the climate crisis. 

Part of the camelid family, alpacas can endure the high altitudes of the Andes and are a critical source of income for farmers in an environment where few or no crops can be cultivated. They are primarily bred for their fine fiber (wool), which is highly prized for knitwear and woven cloth. Tens of thousands of Andean families depend on raising alpacas or dealing in their fiber for subsistence. Among local Indigenous communities such as the Quechua, alpacas are also embedded in cultural and ritual life.

The climate crisis is putting alpacas and the communities they sustain at risk. Shorter rainy seasons and more intense, longer periods of drought are shrinking natural pastures and reducing the quality of the grass on which alpacas feed. In addition, meltwater from Peru’s glaciers, which supports high meadows during the long dry season, is declining rapidly. Peruvian glaciers retreated by 53 percent between 1962 and 2016.

These challenges threaten not only the alpacas, but the loss of high-Andean cultural identity, as alpaquero (alpaca-farmer) communities are forced to move to even greater altitudes, or to abandon their lifestyles entirely and seek work in low-lying cities. Scientists hope to help address the problem using biotechnology to create alpaca breeds more resistant to extremes in temperature. This would help the animals to survive harsh nights at higher altitudes, as well as thrive at lower elevations, since alpacas also suffer in warmer temperatures, from illnesses not present in highland areas.

Alessandro Cinque
About the photographer

Alessandro Cinque (b. 1988) is a photojournalist based between the United States and Peru. His work explores environmental and socio-political issues in Latin America, particularly the devastating impact of neoliberal policies and mining on Indigenous communities and their lands.  Cinque's photographs have ...

Read the full biography
Technical information
Shutter Speed

1/30

ISO

100

Camera

LEICA Q (Typ 116)

Jury comment

This story is a great example of solutions-based journalism, telling a story about the climate crisis from a fresh angle. The photographer captures a multilayered story and balances narratives about loss and preservation. The jury was impressed by how the story narrates the relationship between people, culture and identity and demonstrates how they are deeply tied to all aspects of the changing environment and the animals living in it. The project is beautifully photographed, full of humor, and provides the perfect amount of information. Moreover, it is a perfect edit from start to finish as each frame is relevant and meaningful to the story, allowing the viewer to become invested.