They’re soft and cute with big round eyes, lamb-like faces, long necks and semi-fixed smiles. Bigger than a dog, smaller than a horse, an alpaca has all that, plus it may be the most environmentally correct animal on the planet.

How so?

1. They have padded feet, not hooves. That means they don’t damage a delicate landscape. (Lots of heavy hooves clomping around can lead to soil erosion and weeds.)

2. They don’t have upper teeth. Thus, they gently trim tender grass with their bottom teeth and upper palate, rather than pulling it up by its roots. (Can you say cow?) Their gentle nibbling keeps grass growing. But they’re not too picky: alpacas don’t mind eating some leaves and brush.

3. A group of alpacas prefer to leave their droppings in a single communal area. And if that’s not handy enough, their pellet-sized droppings make a great natural, slow-release fertilizer, according to the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association.

4. They don’t need chemicals or insecticides or herbicides or fertilizer: Alpacas are all natural.

5. They don’t eat a lot and they like hanging out with each other, so you can fit 5 to 10 of them on an acre (a nice acre, mind you).

6. The best part: Shorn about once a year, usually in the spring, an alpaca will provide 5 to 10 pounds of some of the finest fiber in the world (in 22 natural colors).