Vicuna Highland Wildlife Park Badenoch & Strathspey Scotland

            The vicuña (Lama vicugna) or vicuna (both /vɪˈkuːnjə/, very rarely spelled vicugna, its former genus name)[ is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco, which lives at lower elevations. Vicuñas are relatives of the llama, and are now believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their coats. Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every three years and has to be caught from the wild. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's wool is very soft and warm. The Inca valued vicuñas highly for their wool, and it was against the law for anyone but royalty to wear vicuña garments; today, the vicuña is the national animal of Peru and appears on the Peruvian coat of arms.
Both under the rule of the Inca and today, vicuñas have been protected by law, but they were heavily hunted in the intervening period. At the time they were declared endangered in 1974, only about 6,000 animals were left. Today, the vicuña population has recovered to about 350,000, and although conservation organizations have reduced its level of threat classification, they still call for active conservation programs to protect populations from poaching, habitat loss, and other threats.
Previously the vicuña was thought not to have been domesticated, and the llama and the alpaca were both regarded as descendants of the closely related guanaco. But DNA research published in 2001 has shown the alpaca may well have vicuña parentage. Today, the vicuña is mainly wild, but the local people still perform special rituals with these creatures, including a fertility rite.

Taken in: UK / Scotland / Balavil (show map)

Taken on: July 5, 2022

Tags:

Vicuna

Zoo photography

furry animals

camel family

Highland wildlife park

wildlife

Invernesshire

Scotland

Kingussie

cute

outdoors

park

zoo

wool

long necked « less

Groups appears in: • Zoo • Zoos more » • Zoo UK - Zoos of the United Kingdom • Earth's The Biggest Zoo • zoo.zoo,zoo • Zoo Life • Virtual Zoo • Flickrzooanimals • Just Zoo & Safari Park Animals • UK Zoo Photography • World Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium • "Fun and Happiness" « less

Camera: Canon EOS 80D, f/8.0, 1/400 sec, 130mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 80D
Lens:	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	130mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Partial
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 23.4 (Windows)
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