Colours of Wildlife: Vicuna
Created | Updated Jun 5, 2016
Vicuña
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
What a delicate and delightful creature I have for you this time! It's a Vicuña, Vicugna vicugna. This animal only occurs in South America, and is famed for its wonderfully fine, soft, dense and warm wool. The people of Peru are legally allowed to trap wild animals, once every three or four years, shear and then release them again. Unfortunately there are people who gather vicuña wool illegally, killing some of the animals.
Gentle Camelid of the High Andes
Although vicuñas look somewhat like sheep, they are actually members of the camel family! Today this family has been reduced to only four species: the Dromedary, the Bactrian Camel, the Guanaco and the Vicuña. Dromedaries don't occur in the wild any more except for a few feral populations descended from domesticated animals. The guanaco is the wild ancestor of the domestic Llama, while the vicuña is now believed to be the ancestor of the woolly Alpaca. Camels are Artiodactyls or even-hoofed animals, related to pigs, deer, giraffes, cattle and antelopes. They differ enough from these to constitute a separate group, called the Tylopods.
Like many animal groups, camels were much more diverse in the past. While today they're only found wild in Asia and South America, camels actually appear to have originated in North America, and there were American camels until quite recently. There were small gazelle-like camels, long-necked giraffe-like camels, and giant camels almost the size of elephants. There were also more conventional camels and llama-like species. Most extinct species don't appear to have had humps; since most of them actually lived in reasonably lush savannah or woodland habitats, they didn't really need them. It is probable that at least some species were hunted to extinction when humans entered the Americas.
So today we only have the few camel and llama species left, of which the vicuña is the smallest and most graceful. It reaches a shoulder height of 85 cm/34" and a weight of 35 to 65 kg/77 to 145 lbs. It has a fine muzzle, narrow ears, and big, soft, somewhat sad-looking eyes. Its fur is dense but short on the body, golden brown on the back and white below, with a longer, white patch like a bib on the upper chest. Its tail is very short. Like camels, it has two toes per foot, with blunt, round hooves at the front and a soft pad below.
Vicuñas live in mountain regions, specifically the central Andes of western South America. They inhabit terrain up to 16 000 ft/4 800 m in altitude. They graze on the plains between the peaks by day, but retreat to the slopes at night. The central Andes is desert-like in addition to being very high and cold. In spite of it being close to the equator, the nights can fall below freezing at almost any time of the year. Only tough grasses grow there, but vicuñas have teeth and stomachs that can deal with these. To get needed minerals, they lick salty stones and drink brackish water from the high mountain lakes. Their dense wool protect them against the cold. In the wild, they don't suffer much from predation, although pumas (a.k.a. cougars) might catch them. They're very alert and shy, with very well-developed hearing and sight, and will quickly flee if they suspect danger.
For additional protection, vicuñas live in small herds. A basic herd consists of a dominant male, several (up to twenty) females, and their offspring. Mating is in late summer to autumn, and the fawn (typically just the one) is born the next summer. The fawns reach adulthood at the age of eighteen months; they disperse then, the males joining small bachelor herds, the females forming sorority groups. Later, females might join with a dominant adult male of a different herd.
Esteemed by the Incas
Under the Inca empire, vicuñas were protected. There was a legend that the vicuña is the reincarnation of a maiden who was courted by a king; when she accepted him, she received a coat of pure gold. It was illegal to kill them, and only royalty were allowed to wear garments from vicuña wool. Because the coat is quite short, a single animal only produces about 1 pound/0.5 kg of wool per year. Under the Incas, wild vicuñas were caught in funnel traps, then shorn and released. Very large numbers of people participated in this. It happened only once every four years, giving the animals time to regrow their wool.
After the Spanish conquest of South America, these laws fell by the wayside, and vicuñas were suddenly hunted and killed by the thousands. Their population fell to only about 6 000 animals. Then new laws were made, and trade in vicuña wool was restricted. Thanks to these conservation efforts, their number recovered, and today there are about 350 000 vicuñas living in South America. Once again their wool can be legally gathered and sold, just as under the old Incas. The government tries to ensure that the animals aren't harmed, and certifies garments made of legally gathered wool with a special label. Fabrics from vicuña wool can fetch up to $3000 per yard in the US. These sales do much to support local communities where the vicuñas live. Unfortunately these lovely animals are still poached, and remain vulnerable to habitat destruction and degradation. In spite of their being fairly numerous, they are still being carefully monitored by conservation organisations.
