Some blurb on the camelids of South America ... Throughout the Andes of South America and the Patagonia region, we have come across all four of the above closely related species that are relatives of the camel, belonging to the same family. They have been interesting to see, partially because there is certainly no animal like them in North America or Southern Africa. They are also integral to the lives, beliefs and traditions of the local people of the entire region. In Potosi, Bolivia at the Cerro Rico silver mine, we saw the blood splattered hut door entrances and mine entrances where alpaca were slaughtered as a protection offering to El Tio, the devil, lord of the undergorund.
All of them seem to thrive in sparse areas with low scrub vegetation that wouldn´t support most other large animals. The relation between all four does not sound at all clear, but at least it was the Inca that domesticated the wild animals (Guanaco and Vicuna), to breed the llama and alpaca over 4000 years ago. Llama were predominantly raised for their meat and as pack animals. Individual llama carry small loads, but the benefit comes with herds of hundreds of animals that the Inca would use for transportation. Alpaca were raised for their wool and meat, the wool being used by the ¨common people¨ for clothing, blankets, etc. It is the vicuna that has the softest and finest wool, and was hunted by the Inca to provide wool for royalty. In fact, it was illegal for anyone but royalty to wear garments of vicuna wool. Vicuna are the most threatened and were almost hunted to extinction in the 1970´s the global population being reduced to 6000 animals.
