SUPER ANIMAL: Vicuña

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Vicuña

Vicuña is the common name for a rare, wild, gregarious South American camelid, Vicugna found in high elevations of the central Andes mountains and characterized by a long neck and legs, slender body, incisors that are always growing and with enamel only on one side, and a lower lip with a central crevice. The vicuna is the smallest member of the camel family (Camelidae), a group that in South America also includes the domesticated llama and alpaca, and the wild guanaco.which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every 3 years and has to be caught from the wild. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's fur is very soft and warm. It is understood that the Inca valued vicuñas highly for their wool, and that it was against the law for any but royalty to wear vicuña garments.