The vicuna is the smallest member of the camel family. It is native to South America and usually found at altitudes between 10,000 and 15,000 feet in the higher grasslands of the central Andes mountains.
The vicuna lives in extremely variable habitats where the nights are freezing cold and the days are scorching hot. It produces one of the finest and most valuable wools in the world. The vicuna’s wool, which is light and airy, prevents it from overheating during the day and air pockets within the wool keep it warm at night.
The ancient Incans revered the vicuna and treasured its wool. Only Incan royalty was allowed to wear garments made with this wool. The animal nearly went extinct in the 1960s due to centuries of overharvesting, but the Peruvian government came up with a clever plan to save the vicunas.
They got local communities to round up thousands of vicuna for the shearing of their wool. Once the animals were sheared they were released unharmed back into the wild. Thus, the profit that poachers see in the animals is lost and this leads to protection of the species.
The vicuna population is now well over 350,000 and this method is being used by conservationists all over the world to save other species.
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