The vicuņa (Vicugna vicugna) is a relative of the llama that lives in the high Andes. It produces small amounts of extremely fine wool – about a pound per year. Both today and under the rule of the Inca, the vicuņa was protected by law.
The vicuņa is more delicate and graceful than the guanaco, and smaller. The long, woolly coat is tawnybrown on the back while the hair on the throat and chest is white and quite long. The head is slightly shorter than the guanaco's and the ears are slightly longer. Length of head and body 1.45-1.60 m; shoulder height 75-85 cm; weight 35-65 kg.
Distribution
South America, in the central andes. Specifically, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
Habitat
Grasslands and plains in the mountainous regions at an altitude of 4000-5500 m.
Behavior
The behavior of the vicuņa is similar to that of the guanaco. Like the latter, it will frequently lick calcareous stones and rocks, which are rich in salt, and it will also drink salt water. Its diet consists mainly of low grasses which grow in clumps on the ground. It lives in family-based groups made up of a male, and 5-15 females and their young; each group has its own territory, the size of which depends on the availability of food. Mating usually occurs in March-April, and after a gestation period of about 11 months the female gives birth to a single young which nurses for about 10 months and becomes independent at about 12-18 months.
The vicuna, at 70-90 cm (28-35 in) and 35-50 kilos (77-110 lbs.), is the smallest of the four and has the finest hair, making it highly valued.
Famed for its smoothness, warmth and light weight, the vicuna wool is untangled and sold by the Lucanas peasant community to exporters for $285 a pound, said Miguel Penafiel, president of the hilly community in Ayacucho state, 370 miles (410 kilometers) southeast of Lima.
The vicunas were sheared beneath a cloudless sky, under a cliff where a rainbow-colored wiphala flag -- the symbol of Andean indigenous peoples -- rippled in a forceful gale.
Vicunas are found in semiarid rolling grasslands and plains at altitudes of 3,500-5,750 meters.
Compared to the similar-looking Lama guanicoe, the vicuna is one fourth the size, its body is paler, and it lacks callosities on the inner sides of the forelimbs.
Vicunas are one of the few ungulates to possess a feeding territory and a separate sleeping territory.
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