Man teaches alpaca to surf

Peruvian surfer Domingo Pianezzi has spent a decade training dogs to surf, but now he has gone a step further and become the first person to pull the same trick with an alpaca.

Pianezzi has slowly introduced his alpaca, a domesticated animal from the Andean highlands, to the water over the past several months.

The pair ride a ten foot yellow longboard and on Tuesday they managed to catch three waves.

Pianezzi, who said he has competed with pooches at the Dog Surfing World Championships in previous years, came up with the idea of surfing with an alpaca while he was on holiday.

He said: "I have traveled to Australia and have seen a kangaroo surf, a koala, a monkey, a small pig, a cockatoo and something like ten or 15 dogs. So I thought, if they do it in Australia, a developed nation, why can't I do it here in Peru with an alpaca."

Peruvians raise alpacas, a species of South American camelid, primarily for their warm wool and sometimes to eat.