1. World problems
  2. Threatened species of llamas

Threatened species of llamas

  • Endangered species of vicuña

Nature

The vicuna was hunted for their fleece,almost to extinction by the 1960's.

Background

The vicuna is the smallest member of the camel family. The guanaco is somewhat llama sized, while the vicuna is a tiny, antelope like creature. Both have extremely fine fiber, the vicuna having the finest fiber in the world. Vicunas inhabit Chile,Peru,and Bolivia prefering to live at 12,000 to 18,000 feet above sea level. A vicuna produces about 4 ounces of fleece a year. Vicuna's fleece was so valuable that only royalty was allowed to wear it. Vicuna is the llama's only wild relative.

Incidence

There are only 15,000 vicunas living. There used to be 1 million vicunas. Vicunas are endangered.

Broader

Strategy

Value

Threat
Yet to rate
Endangered
Yet to rate

Reference

SDG

Sustainable Development Goal #15: Life on Land

Metadata

Database
World problems
Type
(E) Emanations of other problems
Biological classification
(E) Order
Subject
  • Birds, mammals » Cattle, ungulates
  • Societal problems » Endangered species » Endangered species
  • Content quality
    Presentable
     Presentable
    Language
    English
    Last update
    Jan 17, 2022