Vicuña

The vicuña is a wild South American camelid found at high altitude in the Andes, smaller and more delicate than its relative the guanaco. Genetic research published in 2001 showed the vicuña, not the guanaco, is the wild ancestor of the domesticated alpaca. Vicuñas live at altitudes of 3,200 to 4,800 metres on the grassy plains of Peru, northwestern Argentina, Bolivia and northern Chile, in family groups of one male, several females and their young defending a territory of about 18 square kilometres. Hunted to near extinction, with about 6,000 animals left when the species was declared endangered in 1974, the vicuña recovered under Peruvian, Bolivian and Argentine conservation treaties beginning in 1969 and CITES protection from 1975; its fine wool is now harvested under regulated shearing programmes.