This baby alpaca is proving to be a little fighter.

The females don’t usually have their offspring until April but this cria, as the young are called, was born on Monday, January 16, at Valley Alpaca Farm, Hartlip.

Owners Kirstie and Andy Brown have been making sure the male alpaca called Nero, which means black in Italian, survives the cold weather by putting a special coat on him to keep him warm.

For the last week they have also carried out checks on both mother and baby every couple of hours.

Mrs Brown said: "They’re pregnant for 11 months so mum fell pregnant about February last year after she mated with a male through the fence.

"They’re usually born end of March beginning of April at the earliest when it is warm so it was touch and go whether he would survive or not. We have been surprised at how well he is doing as they’re not very hardy animals. The babies’ mortality rate is 70% in the wild.

"We took the coat off him on Monday as he’s now a week old and he has been feeding well so we thought he would be strong enough to weather the cold.

"Babies usually lay close to their mothers so he gets body heat from her that way and when he lays down she’s almost on top of him."