Vicuña

     The Vicuña is a South-American Camelid that lives in the high alpine areas of the Andes in South America. It’s the smallest member of the Camelid family, and is now believed to be the wild ancestor of the domestic  Alpaca, which are raised for their coats.

     The Vicuña produces small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is known to be the finest and the rarest wool in the world. This wool is sold for very high prices, as the animal can only be shorn every three years, and has to be caught from the wild.

     Vicuñas are delicate and graceful animals, with a long neck and legs, a wedge-shaped head, and sharply triangular ears. Its long, woolly coat is tawny brown on the back, whereas the hair on the throat and chest is white and quite long. The head and neck vary from yellow to reddish-brown in color, and the underside and inner parts of the flanks are of a dirty white color. Vicuñas walk on the soles of their feet, rather than just the toes, to gain better grip on rocks and gravel, and minimize erosion of the fragile soil of the surrounding habitat.

     Vicuñas are similar in appearance to their wild relatives, the Guanacos, but the latter species is larger and have a long and grey face. As other Camelids, it lives in herds consist of a single dominant male that leads a group of dams and juveniles. The Vicuña dam gives birth to her young after a gestation period of 11 months. Then the young is nursed for about additional 10 months. Vicuña crias become independent at about 12 to 18 months old and then they become either solitary or join large bachelor herds. These animals become sexually mature when they are two years old.

     The Vicuña is a highly prized animal in its land of origin, especially Peru, where it’s the national animal, and appears in the Peruvian coat of arms too.