Thevicuña (Lama vicugna) orvicuna[3] (both/vɪˈkuːnjə/, very rarely spelledvicugna,its latin specific name)[4][5] is one of the two wildSouth Americancamelids, which live in the highalpine areas of theAndes; the other camelid is theguanaco, which lives at lower elevations. Vicuñas are relatives of thellama, and are now believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticatedalpacas, which are raised for their coats. Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely finewool, which is very expensive because the animal can beshorn only every three years and has to be caught from the wild. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's wool is very soft and warm. TheInca valued vicuñas highly for their wool, and it was against the law for anyone but royalty to wear vicuña garments; today, the vicuña is thenational animal ofPeru and appears on thePeruvian coat of arms.[6]
Both under the rule of the Inca and today, vicuñas have been protected by law, but they were heavily hunted in the intervening period. When they were declaredendangered in 1974, only about 6,000 animals were left. Today, the vicuña population has recovered to about 350,000,[1] and although conservation organizations have reduced its level of threat classification, they still call for active conservation programs to protect populations from poaching,habitat loss, and other threats.
Previously, the vicuña was not considered domesticated, and the llama and the alpaca were regarded as descendants of the closely relatedguanaco. However,DNA research published in 2001 has demonstrated that the alpaca may have vicuña parentage.[7] Today, the vicuña is mainly wild, but the local people still perform special rituals with these creatures, including a fertility rite.[citation needed]
The vicuña is considered more delicate and gracile than theguanaco and smaller. A key distinguishing element ofmorphology is the better-developed incisor roots for the guanaco.[8] The vicuña's long, woolly coat is tawny brown on the back, whereas the hair on the throat and chest is white and quite long. Its head is slightly shorter than guanaco's, and the ears are slightly longer. The length of the head and body ranges from 1.45 to 1.60 m (about 5 ft); shoulder height is from 75 to 85 cm (around 3 ft); its weight is from 35 to 65 kg (under 150 lb).
While vicuñas are restricted to the more extreme elevations of the Andes in modern times, they may have also been present in the lowland regions ofPatagonia as much as 3500 km south of their current range during theLate Pleistocene andEarly Holocene. Fossils of these lowland camelids have been assigned to a species known asLama gracilis, but genetic and morphological analysis between them and modern vicuña indicate the two may be the same.[9]
Currently, vicuñas are restricted to South America's centralAndes. They are found inPeru, northwesternArgentina,Bolivia, and northernChile. A smaller, introduced population lives in centralEcuador.[1] However, fossil remains indicate that they were also found as far asUruguay[10] and theStraits of Magellan until the earlyHolocene,[11] together with the related guanaco.[10]
Vicuñas live at altitudes of 3,200 to 4,800 m (10,500–15,700 ft).[1] They feed in the daytime on the grassy plains of the Andes Mountains but spend the nights on the slopes. In these areas, only nutrient-poor, tough, bunch grasses andFestuca grow. The sun's rays can penetrate the thinatmosphere, producing relatively warm temperatures during the day; however, the temperatures drop to freezing at night. The vicuña's thick but soft coat is a unique adaptation that traps layers of warm air close to its body to tolerate freezing temperatures.[citation needed]
The behavior of vicuñas is similar to that of the guanacos. They are timid animals and are easily aroused by intruders due, among other things, to their extraordinary hearing. Like the guanacos, they frequently lickcalcareous stones and rocks, which, together with salt water, is its source of salt. Vicuñas are clean animals and always deposit their excrement in the same place.[13] Their diets consist mainly of low grasses which grow in clumps on the ground.[citation needed]
Vicuñas live in family-based groups of a male, 5 to 15 females, and their young. Each group has its territory of about 18 km2 (6.9 sq mi), which can fluctuate depending on food availability.[citation needed]
Mating usually occurs in March–April. After agestation about 11 months, the female gives birth to a single fawn, which is nursed for about ten months. The fawn becomes independent at about 12 to 18 months old. Young males form bachelor groups, and the young females search for a sorority to join. This deters intraspecific competition and inbreeding.[citation needed]
Until 1964, hunting of the vicuña was unrestricted, which reduced its numbers to only 6,000 in the 1960s. As a result, the species was declared endangered in 1974, and its status prohibited the trade of vicuña wool. In Peru, during 1964–1966, the Servicio Forestal y de Caza in cooperation with the US Peace Corps, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and theNational Agrarian University ofLa Molina established a nature conservatory for the vicuña called thePampa Galeras – Barbara D'Achille inLucanas Province,Ayacucho. During that time, a game warden academy was held in Nazca, where eight men from Peru and six from Bolivia were trained to protect the vicuña from poaching.[citation needed]
To cooperate on the conservation of the vicuña, the governments of Bolivia and Peru signed the Convention for the Conservation of the Vicuña on 16 August 1969 inLa Paz, explicitly leaving the treaty open to accession by Argentina and Chile.[14] Ecuador acceded on 11 February 1976.[14] The Convention prohibited their international trade and domestic exploitation, and ordered the parties to create reserves and breeding centres.[15] A follow-up treaty, the Convention for the Conservation and Management of the Vicuña, was signed between Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru on 20 December 1979 inLima.[15][16] It explicitly allowed only Argentina to sign it if it also signed the 1969 La Paz Convention (Article 12;[16] Argentina joined in 1981[15]), and did not allow other countries to accede to the convention 'due to its specific character' (Article 13).[16] The 1979 Convention did allow the use of the vicuña under strict circumstances if the animal population had recovered sufficiently.[15] In combination withCITES (effective in 1975), as well as USA and EU trade legislation, the Conventions were highly successful, as the vicuña population substantially grew as a result.[15]
The estimated population in Peru was 66,559 in 1994, 103,161 in 1997, 118,678 in 2000, and 208,899 in 2012.[17][18] Currently,[when?] the community of Lucanas conducts achaccu (herding, capturing, and shearing) on the reserve each year to harvest the wool, organized by the National Council for South American Camelids (CONACS).[citation needed]
In Bolivia, theUlla Ulla National Reserve (now theApolobamba Integrated Management Natural Area) was designatured as a UNESCO biosphere in 1977, partly as a sanctuary for the species.[19][20] Their numbers grew to 125,000[when?] in Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia.[citation needed] Since this was a ready "cash crop" for community members, the countries relaxed regulations on vicuña wool in 1993, enabling its trade once again.[citation needed] The wool is sold[when?] on the world market for over $300 per kg.[citation needed] In 2002, theUS Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified most populations as threatened, but still lists Ecuador's population as endangered.[21] While the population levels have recovered to a healthy level,[when?] poaching remains a constant threat, as do habitat loss and other threats.[citation needed] Consequently, theIUCN still supports active conservation programs to protect vicuñas, though they lowered their status to least concern in 2018.[1]
In 2015, French luxury groupLVMH said that "Loro Piana saved the species."[22] The Italian company has been criticized for underpaying local communities collecting the wool.[23] In 2022, the Argentine government's National Council for Scientific and Technical Investigation estimated that "Andean communities receive around 3% of the value generated by the vicuña fiber chain."[24][25]
Its wool is famous for its warmth and is used for apparel, such as socks, sweaters, accessories, shawls, coats, suits, and home furnishings, such as blankets and throws. Its properties come from the tiny scales on the hollow, air-filled fibres, which causes them to interlock and trap insulating air. Vicuñas have some of the finest fibers in the world, at a diameter of 12 μm. The fiber ofcashmere goats is 14 to 19 μm, whileangora rabbit is 8 to 12 μm, and that ofshahtoosh from theTibetan antelope, or chiru, is from 9 to 12 μm.[26]
^The spellingvicuña is not even mentioned in some dictionaries, for example theMacmillan Dictionary.
^The spellingvicugna is so rare in English that it is not even mentioned in theColumbia Electronic Encyclopedia or any major dictionary, including theAmerican Heritage Dictionary,Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,Oxford Living Dictionaries,Random House Dictionary,Collins English Dictionary, andLongman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
^Hogan, C. Michael (7 December 2008). Strömberg, N. (ed.)."Guanaco:Lama guanicoe".GlobalTwitcher.com. GlobalTwitcher. Archived fromthe original on 4 March 2011.
^abUbilla, M., Rinderknecht, A., Corona, A., & Perea, D. (2018). Mammals in last 30 to 7 ka interval (late Pleistocene-early Holocene) in southern Uruguay (Santa Lucía River basin): last occurrences, climate, and biogeography.Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 25(2), 291-300.
^Weinstock, J., Shapiro, B., Prieto, A., Marín, J. C., Gonzalez, B. A., Gilbert, M. T. P., & Willerslev, E. (2009). The Late Pleistocene distribution of vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) and the "extinction" of the gracile llama ("Lama gracilis"): New molecular data. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28(15-16), 1369-1373.
^Except populations of Argentina (populations of provinces of Jujuy, Salta, and Catamarca and semi-captive populations of provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja, and San Juan), Chile (populations of the region of Tarapacá and of the region of Arica and of the region of Parinacota), Ecuador (whole population), Peru (whole population), and the Plurinational State of Bolivia (whole population), which are included in Appendix II.
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