Twins are pretty rare in alpacas and on the island of Tasmania (near Australia) the first pair arrived last month. It is believed there have been fewer than 10 pairs of twins successfully born in Australia in the past 20 years.

The Tassie twins are now about a month old and were born on a small property at Birches Bay near Woodbridge, south of Hobart.

"They don't look alike at all," says alpaca farm owner Pearl Anderson. "One's dark brown and the other is far lighter." Also, Bell is a girl, while Beau is a boy.

The number of alpacas has exploded in Australia recently.

Ten years ago there were about 10,000 nationwide.

Now there are 50,000, and that is expected to increase to 110,000 by 2008.

So when it comes to thinking about the future of American Alpacas in the international marketplace have no doubt that Australia will be out there.

If you want to know more check out the Australian Alpaca Association.

Adrian Stewart