Peru, incas, vicuna, Andean beauty and the best wool

The vicuna and the finest wool in the world

"The earth is not ours but we belong to it because we are his children. Does the land owner? Pachamama is our house, our home and lived here humans, animals and plants. " A. René Machaca

The vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) -of Quechua wik'uña- is a artiodactyl mammal, family of camels and camelids group, living in the Andean highlands, in northern Argentina, western Bolivia, the northeastern Chile, Ecuador, and in the Andes of Peru, which has the main population of the species.

Characteristics

The vicunas are the small camelids, weighing 40 to 50 kg and has a length of 80 cm. They are wild. Its color is beige or vicuña (reddish light brown) on the back and white on the belly and legs, with variations depending on the habitat. Northern populations are darker and have a lock on the front of long white hairs (pectoral tuft). Vicuna have long, thin legs, finished in pads, suitable for walking on various types of soil, even rocky.

The wool fiber is among the finest in the world, measuring 15 microns in diameter. The coat is dense, consisting of thin fibers that grow together, to protect the animal from both the cold and the rain and wind. If the fibers were thicker and grow further apart, they would spend the cold air and rainwater.

Habitat

It is located in the highlands, more than 3200 m; They are living in highland cold, dry weather. They are herbivores and feed on the plants of the high Andean steppes. The residents of the Puna say vicunas have owners, they are cattle of Pachamama, Mother Earth, and have their own pastor, Coquena.

The fiber (wool) of the vicuna was valued since pre-Inca times. Hunting was limited by their primitive methods, but intensified after the introduction of firearms. The population reached 3 million heads but after centuries of hunting fell dramatically. Indiscriminate hunting intensified after Independence and Simon Bolivar issued one of the first conservation laws of America. From independence until 1950 hunting vicunas had no limits or control until the species was in real danger of extinction, and only 10,000 were in the Andes.

According Baldo (2014, p. 23) in 1960 there were fears that the vicunas were extinguished, so in the provinces, countries and also among the Andean countries began vigorous efforts to save them, with strict conservation measures. In 1969 in La Paz (Bolivia), the first International Convention for the Conservation of Vicuña it was signed. Hunting was banned, many protected areas were created and international trade is strictly regulated fiber, with maximum protection of all surviving populations. Ten years later, the Convention changed its name to "International Convention for the Conservation and Management of the Vicuña" and included the ability to sustainably use the species.

Therefore, in Peru he began working seriously for recovery and conservation; with appropriate legislation. A successful move was the creation of reserves for raising the vicuna; Pampa Galeras (Ayacucho) and Aguada Blanca (Arequipa).

Worldwide, there are institutions dedicated to environmental conservation, such as Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme).

Baldo (2014.p. 22) indicates that in addition to measures of international, national and regional governments, was very important the people support for the Andean vicuna conservation, protecting people hunters, so that communities favored by the presence of this valuable species in their territories. Vicuna then begin to increase in number and recolonize former home areas and in many of these areas farmers and herdsmen protect them.

The recovery of the vicuña and the value of its fiber, allow people get real benefits from the use of wool by capturing and shearing. Some communities already receiving benefits, others also want to win; vicunas in some communities are recovering and in others just appear so it takes more effort and care to increase their populations.

Currently, the Vicuña Convention is not strict conservation but also allows use. In Article 1 states that the signatory governments agree that the conservation of the vicuna is "an alternative economic production for the benefit of the Andean population and commit themselves to its gradual use under strict state control."

There are still risks such as poaching, the act of misleading the vicunas as pets, the lack of recognition of local communities and their rights regarding the vicunas, lack of environmental protection.

There are few areas of strict protection of vicunas where they can reproduce undisturbed, essential to have an animal reservoir condition. Despite the efforts, many existing protected areas are "paper parks" because they lack the proper amount of rangers, budget and infrastructure for proper control and operation thereof.

Vicunas can be stored in two ways: Free or wild and in captivity.

In the first case, the vicunas living in the wild using a technique called Chaco of ancestral origin (from the Incas), where the vicunas end up in a corral of capture and shearing are captured. In captivity, the habitat is smaller but you can better control the action of predators or poachers.

The vicuna is the national animal of Peru, is the coat of arms as a symbol of the natural wealth.

References

Baldo Jorge, Arzamendia Yanina, Bila Viviana (2014) La vicuña, Manual para su conservación u uso sustentable

CONICET, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones científicas y técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

http://www.conicet.gov.ar/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/La-vicu%C3%B1a.-Manual-para-su-conservaci%C3%B3n-y-uso-sustentable_CONICET.pdf

Hoces, Domingo (2008) CONSERVACION Y USO ACTUAL DE LA VICUÑA (Vicugna vicugna mensalis) EN EL PERU

https://cites.org/sites/default/files/ndf_material/WG5-CS8-P.pdf

La vicugna vicugna

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicugna_vicugna

Vicuña

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicu%C3%B1a