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Vicuna - Facts, Diet, Habitat

The Vicuña is the smallest member of the household of camelids and is regarded as the alpaca's wild ancestor. It looks endearing, with its giant, forward-facing eyes and small, wedge-shaped head with sharply triangular ears. The colour of the head varies from reddish-brown to yellow, and its neck is pale orange. Its chest is covered with a silky white mane, however the fur of the remainder of its body is soft and of the identical length. It has a pale brown back and its underside and the inside parts of its flanks are soiled white.

The vicuña inhabits the Andes in southern Peru, north-western Argentina, western Bolivia, and northern Chile. It lives in mountainous areas above 3,200 meters, grazing on the quick, tough vegetation of those semi-arid rolling grasslands, marshes and plains known as "antiplano" or "puna". It inhabits areas where water is available for it to drink on a daily basis. The local weather of its habitat is dry, and is hot throughout the day and cold at night.

Habits and Life-style

Vicuñas are shy and alert animals that run away very rapidly. After they sense danger, they make a transparent whistling noise. The dominant male warns the herd with its alarm call, and then positions himself between the risk and his herd. A single dominant male is the leader of a gaggle of juveniles and females. He decides the range of the herd's territory and its membership, and drives other male vicuñas away from his group. Family groups are closed, excluding non-member males and sometimes even preventing younger feminine animals from joining. A family group often numbers 6-10 individuals, in keeping with food availability in its territory. Vicuñas have a feeding territory as well as a separate territory for sleeping. They are diurnal animals, and at evening go up to their sleeping territory at higher altitudes. Adults that don't lead a herd either grow to be solitary, or they join a large herd of 30 to a hundred and fifty individuals.

Vicuñas are polygynous, the dominant male mating with all mature females from his herd. The mating season begins in March or April. The gestation interval is 330 to 350 days, and a single fawn is born. A fawn can stand just quarter-hour after being born. It stays close beside its mom for eight months or more, persevering with to suckle until the age of 10 months and changing into impartial at around 12 to 18 months of age. Young males join bachelor groups and young females be part of a sorority. Females are sexually mature at 2 years and a few are nonetheless reproducing at 19 years.

Inhabitants threats

Poaching takes place, the vicuña’s coat and products being smuggled in massive quantities to Asia and Europe. Habitat loss due to over-grazing from home livestock or human activities, such pollution of water sources and mining, is an additional threat. Local weather change could damage the delicate ecosystem the place the vicuña lives. A current potential risk, in the Andes as well as worldwide, is the breeding of a vicuña and alpaca hybrid (a pacovicuña) for commercial purposes.

Inhabitants number

In line with the IUCN Red List, the total inhabitants size of the vicuña is 347,273 people, including estimates for specific areas: Argentina: 127,072 or 72,678 people; Bolivia: 62,869 people; Chile: sixteen,942 individuals; Euador: 2,683 individuals; Peru: 188,327 individuals. Vicuñas’ numbers are growing at present and they are labeled as least concern (LC) on the list of threatened species.