Guanaco

The guanaco (/ɡwɑːˈnɑːkoʊ/ gwah-NAH-koh; Lama guanicoe) is a camelid that lives in South America. It looks a lot like its close relative, the llama, but it is a wild animal, not a pet or farm animal. Guanacos are very good at surviving in tough places with little water and food.

There are two main kinds of wild South American camelids, and the guanaco is one of them. The other is the vicuña, which lives in even higher and colder places. Guanacos are important because they help scientists learn about the natural world and how animals adapt to live in hard environments.

Etymology

The guanaco gets its name from the Quechua word wanaku. Young guanacos are called chulengos or "guanaquitos".

Characteristics

Guanacos are medium-sized animals that stand between about 1 meter and 1.3 meters tall at the shoulder and can weigh between 90 and 140 kilograms. They are one of the larger wild land animals in South America. Their fur ranges from light brown to dark brown, with a lighter shade underneath, and they have grey faces and small ears.

These animals eat a variety of plants such as grasses, shrubs, herbs, lichens, and flowers. They have special blood that helps them live in high, thin-air areas, making them able to survive in places where there is less oxygen. The fur of guanacos is soft and warm, making it very valuable for making clothing.

Subspecies

The guanaco has two main types or subspecies. One type, Lama guanicoe guanicoe, lives in the northern areas. The other type, Lama guanicoe cacsilensis, is found in the southern areas.

Population and distribution

Guanacos live in places like grassy plains, scrublands, and mountains across South America. You can find them in the high areas of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, as well as in Patagonia. There is a small group in Paraguay. In Argentina, they are more common in Patagonia and places like Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. These areas have fewer animals eating the same food, so guanacos do better there.

As of 2016, there are about 1.5 to 2 million guanacos. Most live in Argentina, with smaller numbers in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. This is only a small part of their population before people from Spain arrived in South America. A few guanacos were taken to Staats Island in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) by a man named John Hamilton, and there are around 400 there today. In Torres del Paine National Park, the number of guanacos grew from 175 in 1975 to 3,000 in 1993.

Guanacos live in groups with females, their babies, and one male leader. Younger males stay together in their own groups. These groups usually stay small, but the groups of younger males can have up to 50 animals. Guanacos can run very fast—up to 56 kilometers an hour—and they are great swimmers. They can live for about 20 to 25 years.

In Bolivia, guanacos face problems because plants are growing over their homes. Some guanacos live in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. They survive by eating cacti and lichens that collect water from fog that rolls in from the ocean.

Ecology

The guanaco is active during the day and lives in small groups with one male and several females and their babies. If the male senses danger, he warns the group by making loud noises. Guanacos can run very fast—up to 64 kilometers per hour—to escape threats. This speed helps them survive because they cannot hide easily in the open grasslands where they live.

Guanacos face threats from animals like pumas and foxes. Recently, scientists noticed foxes hunting guanacos in a place called Karukinka Reserve. This may be because there is less food there now, making animals weaker. Since there are no pumas in that area, foxes have more chances to hunt. When foxes attack, guanacos work together to protect their young by forming a circle around them and chasing the foxes away.

When guanacos feel threatened, they make a loud, funny-sounding noise to alert their group. The male usually stays close to help protect everyone. Even though guanacos are usually calm, they may spit when they feel danger, and they can spit up to six feet away.

During the months of December to February, males compete to show who is strongest to have the right to mate. About eleven and a half months later, a baby guanaco, called a chulengo, is born. These babies can walk right away. When male babies are about a year old, the main male chases them away from the group, and they join another group of males.

Conservation

Guanacos are not in danger of disappearing in southern Argentina and Chile, but many of them get stuck on fences and do not survive. Scientists found that young guanacos are more likely to get caught on fences than older ones. This happens more often on fences for sheep than on taller fences for cows. Most guanacos get caught by their legs on the top wire when they try to jump over the fence.

Captivity and domestication

About 300 guanacos live in zoos in the United States, and around 200 are in private herds. Scientists discovered that guanacos are the wild ancestors of the domesticated llama. They made this find in 2001, but they also learned that llamas mixed with alpacas, which come from the wild vicuña.

Long ago, the Mapuche people of Mocha Island in southern Chile also tamed guanacos, creating an animal called the chilihueque. They raised these animals for their wool and to help pull a plough. However, this animal disappeared in the 1600s when it was replaced by sheep and other animals brought from far away, known as the Old World.