The vicuña (pronounced ve-coon-ah) is a species native to the Andes mountain, closely associated to the guanaco. The vicuña is part of the camel household, although it is by far the smallest member. Compared to a guanaco, the vicuña is only about half the size, has a smaller tail, and finer wool. Home alpacas are likely to have originated from ancient vinuña domestication attempts.
Vicuñas occupy the grasslands of the central Andes mountains and are adapted to very high elevations. Actually, most vicuñas are discovered between 10,000 and 15,000 ft – higher than most mountains in many parts of the world. They spend their days feeding throughout the grassy plains. At night, the herds move back into the hills.
In the hills and mountainous areas, vicuñas are able to avoid lots of their predators. They are very nimble along rocky ridges, allowing them to evade less agile predators. Nonetheless, pumas are a serious predator of vicuñas, and pumas are more than capable of capturing prey amongst unsure footing.
Vicuña Wool – One of the World’s Most Expensive Materials!
The fiber produced by the vicuña is extraordinarily valuable because of its extraordinarily soft and warm nature. Particular person wool fibers are among the finest in the animal kingdom – leading to one of the softest materials in creation when it is weaved together. The fabric is so costly that a suit jacket made of vicuña wool can price upwards of $20,000!
The fibers are designed to keep the animal comfortable in the highly variable setting of the Andes Mountains. Within the day, temperatures might be scorching hot. The light coloration and airiness of vicuña wool make sure that the animals do not overheat. Nighttime in the Andes is a different story, with temperatures typically dropping under freezing. Hole air pockets within the wool keep the organisms warm even in the face of freezing temperatures.
Part of the reason that the vicuña was revered by ancient Inca civilization was because of its fine wool. Only Incan royalty was allowed to wear the wool, as a sign of standing and respect. When the Spanish conquistadors invaded South America, vicuña wool was taken back to Europe and grew in commonity. Through centuries of unregulated harvesting, the vicuña was almost extinct within the Nineteen Sixties!
Attention-grabbing Insights from the Vicuña!
The vicuña is a captivating species because of its amazing adaptations, and in part because of the history humanity has skilled with the vicuña. While these are fascinating topics, the vicuña also displays several vital ideas which can be necessary to all of biology!
Preventing Poaching – Shave the Vicuñas!
The conservation of vicuñas relies on a trick that can be useful to many different endangered species. Within the Nineteen Seventies, the Peruvian authorities and a number of non-profit organizations teamed up to prevent the vicuña from going extinct. To do so required the assistance of the community and a big number of wool shears.
This technique helped get the vicuña off of the endangered species list! Though there have been as little as 6,000 vicuña within the Sixties, populations at the moment are well above 350,000! Conservationists working on different species have started adopting this method, with similar success. Rhinos and elephants in sure parks have their ivory tusks often shaved down, making the animals almost worthless to a poacher. Typically, if the valuable part of an animal could be removed without hurt to the animal the method is perfect for reducing poaching.
Wool-Producing Animals
A wide range of animals produces wool – from sheep to llamas – however not all wool is the same. Wool from totally different species can have many various qualities, including its width, size, progress time, and ability to trap air pockets. Vicuña wool is extraordinarily fine and traps air wonderfully – however can take up to 2 years or more to develop out fully!
Most wool-producing animals evolved in environments with severe temperature shifts. Wool traps heat when it is simply too cold and dissipates heat when things start getting too hot. This permits wool-producing animals to live in mountainous environments that have drastic temperature swings regularly. Wool can also be covered in oils, which help keep animals dry when it rains heavily.
If you loved this posting and you would like to get far more info regarding this page kindly pay a visit to the webpage.