Vicuña

 

  

The Life of Animals | Vicuña | The vicuña is a delicate and graceful than the guanaco, and smaller. An essential element distinguishing feature of the morphology of the better-developed incisor roots for guanaco.Its long, woolly coat is tawny brown on the back, while the hair is white on the throat and chest and fairly long. The head is slightly shorter than the guanaco and the ears are a little longer. Vicuñas live exclusively in South America, especially in the central Andes. They are originally from Peru, north-west of Argentina, Bolivia and northern Chile, and there is a small, introduced population in central Ecuador. The rays of the sun are in a position to the thin atmosphere produces relatively warm temperatures to penetrate during the day, however, temperatures drop to freezing at night. The vicuña's thick but soft coat is a special adaptation, can tolerate the layers traps warm air close to his body to freezing temperatures. The behavior of the vicuña is similar to the guanaco.

Like the guanaco, they are frequently lick calcareous stones and rocks that are rich in salt, and drink is also salt water.  Vicuñas live in family-based groups of one male, taken 5-15 females and their young. Young males form bachelor groups and young women to join the search for a fraternity. Along with preventing intraspecific competition, it also prevents inbreeding, which has a population bottleneck in endangered species can cause as observed with cheetahs. The wool is renowned for its warmth. Its warming properties of the tiny scales that are on the hollow air filled fibers come. At the same time it is finer than any other wool in the world, measuring 12 microns in diameter  but because they are sensitive to chemical treatment, the wool is usually left in its natural color. During the time of the Incas, vicuna fiber is called by local efforts Chacu were assembled, where crowds of people herded hundreds of thousands of vicuña into previously defined funnel traps.

From June 2007, prices for vicuña yarns and fabrics of $ 1,800 to $ 3,000 per meter range. Vicuña fiber for clothing (including socks, sweaters, accessories, scarves, coats, suits and) and home fashion (such as blankets and throws) are used. A scarf costs about $ 1,500, while a man's coat cost up to $ 20,000.