Vicuña Vicugna vicugna Least concern
Where the vicuña lives – recorded in 5 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.
Pin and shaded countries are approximate. The pin is a representative wild sighting (a central record among 854 open-licence GBIF records), not an official range. Method · Records on GBIF · See camels, llamas & relatives on the world map
| Scientific name | Vicugna vicugna |
|---|---|
| Group | Camels, llamas & relatives |
| Status | Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label) |
| Found in | 5 countries |
| Continents | South America |
| Class | Mammal |
| Order | Artiodactyla |
| Family | Camelidae |
Where does the vicuña live?
Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the vicuña in 5 countries and territories across South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia.
Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.
Is the vicuña endangered?
The vicuña’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the vicuña?
The vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) is a mammal in the order Artiodactyla and the family Camelidae, genus Vicugna. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)
About the vicuña
The vicuña (Lama vicugna) or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled vicugna, its Latin specific name) is a wild South American camelid which lives in high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, the domesticated descendant of the guanaco, the only other still wild South American camelid.
The vicuña is believed to be the ancestor of domesticated alpaca, which is raised for its coat. The vicuña produces small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal has to be caught from the wild to be fleeced and can only be shorn every three years. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's wool is very soft and warm. The Inca valued the vicuña highly for its wool, and it was prohibited 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.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Vicuña (revision 1378160157), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q167797 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).
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