Royal family: Duchess of Cambridge Kate goes alpaca petting in Northern Ireland

Sometimes royal visits can be very formal and don't look like much fun.

But sometimes they look brilliant! This week The Duchess of Cambridge is in Northern Ireland as part of a tour of the UK.

The Duchess was visiting Ark Open Farm in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, where she got hands-on with a couple of animals including this super-cute alpaca.

The visit is part of her campaign to travel around the UK and visit schemes that help support and educate young children.

She also helped some children to feed lambs and, for the first time in her life, held a snake. Yikes.

"Are you sure it's OK? Oh my goodness. No way," Kate said.

"She's got the most amazing skin. This is the first time I've ever held a snake like that. How cool is that?"

What is an alpaca?

You may have seen an alpaca or even petted one yourself but how much do you know about them?

Well they aren't native to Northern Ireland!

They're often confused with llamas but while they look a bit similar, alpacas are much smaller and have shorter, straighter ears than a llama.

Alpacas are usually kept in herds in many countries in South America, usually high up in the Andes Mountains.

There are no wild alpacas. Every alpaca belongs to a farmer, who raises them so that their wool can be made into clothing.

Duchess Kate having a nice chat with an alpaca

They belong to the Camelidae family, which also includes camels.

Alpacas can live for a pretty long time - if they are taken care of really well, they can live for up to 20 years.