Vicuña

The vicuña (Lama vicugna) is a species of camelid native to South America and is one of the two wild species in the genus, Lama, the other being the guanaco. Vicuñas are believed to be the wild ancestor of the alpaca, raised for their coats. Vicuñas produce small amounts of wool, which is very expensive as the animal can only be shorn every three years and must be caught from the wild. The long wooly coat is tawny brown on the back, with the chest being white. The length of the head and body is 1.45 to 1.60 m; shoulder height is 75 to 85 cm, and weighs 35 to 65 kg. Predators of vicuñas include the cougar and culpeo. Vicuñas have been protected by law, but were heavily hunted before then, but recovered with a population of 350,000. It is currently listed as a least concern species.