Sustainable Use of the Vicuña: A Critical Analysis and the MACS Project

Abstract

The vicuña is a South American Camelid belonging to the infra-order Tylopoda, and family Camelidae (Osgood 1943, Wheeler 1995). Other species of South American Camelid are the guanaco ( Lama guanicoe ), which is also a wild species, the llama ( Lama glama ) and the alpaca ( Lama pacos ), both domesticated species (Bonacic 1991, Franklin and Fritz 1991, Torres, 1992, Bonacic et al. 1995). The vicuña inhabits high regions of the Andes at altitudes between 3,000 and 4,600 meters. Its range covers 9° 30' to 29° 00' latitude South (Koford 1957). [...]