Vicuna  (Vicugna vicugna)

Social organization in vicuna is characterized by the existence of family groups, bachelor groups and solitary males (13). In family groups a single dominant male leads a group of females and juveniles numbering up to ten individuals. He marks out two territories from which he drives other males away. The feeding territory is the larger of the two, with the separate sleeping territory found at a higher altitude. Vicuna undergo daily migrations, spending the night and early morning on dry slopes and then descending to the grassland and marshes to graze before returning to the slopes in the late afternoon (14). Vicuna feed on short grasses, tearing at them with teeth that grow continuously, as in rodents (2). Steep slopes are used by the vicuna in order to escape from some predators (13). When threatened, the dominant male gives a whistling alarm call and places himself between the herd and the danger. Vicuna can run at up to 50 kilometres an hour and their movement is surprisingly graceful (2).

During the breeding season, which varies depending on the region (9), the dominant male mates with all the mature females in his herd. Gestation lasts from 330 to 350 days, resulting in the birth of a single calf. The calf is on its feet just 15 minutes after birth, but remains with its mother for four to nine months if male and eight to ten months if female. Non-dominant males become either solitary or join large bachelor herds (2). They are sexually mature by two years (2).