Guanaco

The guanaco (/ɡwɑːˈnɑːkoʊ/ ghwuah-NAH-koh; Lama guanicoe) is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations.

The guanaco gets its name from the Quechua word wanaku. Young guanacos are called chulengos or "guanaquitos".

Guanacos stand between 1.0 and 1.3 m (3 ft 3 in and 4 ft 3 in) at the shoulder, body length of 2.1 to 2.2 m (6 ft 11 in to 7 ft 3 in), and weigh 90 to 140 kg (200 to 310 lb). Their color varies very little (unlike the domestic llama), ranging from a light brown to dark cinnamon and shading to white underneath. Guanacos have grey faces and small, straight ears. The lifespan of a guanaco can be as long as 28 years.

Guanacos are one of the largest terrestrial mammals native to South America today. Other terrestrial mammalian megafauna weighing as much or more than the guanaco include the tapirs, the marsh deer, the white-tailed deer, the spectacled bear, and the jaguar.^{[citation needed]}

Guanacos have thick skin on their necks, a trait also found in their domestic counterparts, the llama, and their relatives, the wild vicuña and domesticated alpaca. This protects their necks from predator attacks. Bolivians use the neck skin of these animals to make shoes, flattening and pounding the skin to be used for the soles. In Chile, hunting is allowed only in Tierra del Fuego, where the only population not classified as endangered in the country resides. Between 2007 and 2012, 13,200 guanacos were legally hunted in Tierra del Fuego.

Like all camels, Guanacos are herbivores, grazing on grasses, shrubs, herbs, lichens, fungi, cacti, and flowers. The food is swallowed with little chewing and first enters the forestomach to be digested finally after rumination. This process is similar to that of ruminants, to which camels are not zoologically related. The camels' digestive system is likely to have developed independently of ruminants, which is evidenced by the fact that the forestomachs are equipped with glands.

Guanacos are often found at altitudes up to 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above sea level, except in Patagonia, where the southerly latitude means ice covers the vegetation at these altitudes. Their blood is rich in red blood cells, enabling them to survive in the low oxygen levels found at these high altitudes. A teaspoon of guanaco blood contains about 68 million red blood cells, four times that of a human.

Guanaco fiber is particularly prized for its soft, warm feel and is found in luxury fabric. In South America, the guanaco's soft wool is valued second only to that of vicuña wool. The pelts, particularly from the calves, are sometimes used as a substitute for red fox pelts, because the texture is difficult to differentiate. Like their domestic descendant, the llama, the guanaco is double-coated with coarse guard hairs and a soft undercoat, the hairs of which are about 16–18 μm in diameter and comparable to cashmere.