Vicuña management in practice

VILÁ, B.; ARZAMENDIA, Y.; WAWRZYK, A.; BALDO, J.; YACOBACCIO, H.; MARCOPPIDO, G.; ROMERO, S.

Towards sustainable management of vicuñas in the Andes. Laker, J. & Bonacic, C. (Eds.)

Macaulay Institute

Lugar: Aberdeen, Scotland.; Año: 2006; p. 18 - 23

Over most of their range, vicuñas share their sparse grazing lands with domestic llamas, alpacas, sheep, cattle and goats. The main threat to their high mountain habitat comes from desertification processes arising from overgrazing, mainly by exotic livestock, and lack of proper management. Livestock grazing, in particular by introduced cattle and sheep, can cause erosion and long term deterioration in the productive capacity of the fragile soils. The camelids are considered "low-impact grazers" because of their physical adaptations to the altiplano environment, for example a modified ruminant digestión specialised for a high fibre-low protein diet, padded feet, sharp incisors and a prehensile split upper lip that minimize impact on vegetation and loose soil. An important motivation for managing vicuña is the attractive possibility of generating an income from an activity which involves low management input, but which is highly compatible with environmental protection and wildlife conservation.