By Ayana Harscoet of Bowdoin College
In the very south of South America, far from the deserts of northern Africa and central Asia, lives a close relative of the camel: the lesser-known guanaco, or Lama guanicoe. These slender, graceful-looking camelids graze arid regions in southern Argentina and Chile. Though they don’t have a hump like camels, they sport the same small head, long neck, and slender legs, giving them their characteristic appearance. Standing a little under 4 feet at the shoulder, guanacos can weigh over 200 pounds and run as fast as 40 mph at top speed. Most of the time, though, you can find them grazing, their tan backs blending in with the environment as pictured to the right.
One of the most common places to find guanacos is the Patagonian steppe, a dry region characterized by low-growing, thorny “cushion” plants and low rainfall. Despite these potentially harsh conditions, guanacos have a variety of adaptations that help them thrive in this environment: they are able to retain and store significant moisture from plants, meaning they often don’t need to drink during the day. They also have tough stomachs—as ruminants, they regurgitate food and re-chew it as it passes through their 3-chamber stomach, enabling them to digest some of the tougher plants of the steppe. Guanacos will eat most plants—though they prefer grasses and leaves, they have been observed feeding on lichens and even cacti. A split upper lip helps them efficiently guide food into their mouths, almost like a set of fingers, as seen below.
Guanacos also inhabit a region called the altiplano, or Andean plateau, in addition to other plains habitats in the southern tip of the continent. None of these habitats have significant tree cover, so guanacos are observable from hundreds of meters away. Most often, you can see them in large herds, usually composed of a single male and around ten females with their young, though some herds can have as many as fifty individuals. Males will engage in intense fights over these herds, and bands of adult females with their young tend to move between male territories, ensuring these females aren’t always mating with the same males.
Female guanacos will give birth to one baby, or chulengo, at a time following a long, 11.5-month gestation period. The chulengos can stand immediately after being born, an important adaptation for avoiding predators like puma and culpeo foxes. Guanacos are often on the alert for these predators—other than feeding, they spend their time looking out for danger. They’re well equipped for survival, though: guanacos have especially thick neck skin to shield them from sharp teeth, and they can spit (with great accuracy, apparently) at targets up to 6 feet away. That said, only about 30% of chulengos make it to adulthood.
Sometimes, the danger comes from within: a year after they are born, male chulengos are chased away from their herds to find their own herds. Not all succeed in doing so, and some wander the steppe alone or band together with other males—injured, old, and immature males will sometimes form social groups. In Valle Chacabuco, one of Round River’s study sites, I watched an injured male fall farther and farther behind his herd. Unable to fight for a herd, he would likely fall in with other wandering males for safety in numbers—or maybe end up as dinner for a puma.
Round River has been conducting surveys of guanacos in this valley for several years now, first by vehicle and more recently on foot. We trek along transects into the steppe, searching for tan backs among the neneo bushes and counting individuals from afar. Guanacos used to be a major conservation concern—they were hunted extensively for their plush coats and continue to face competition from other grazers, primarily sheep, for food. By some estimates, the remaining guanaco populations in South America account for only 5% of their original numbers. However, their numbers have recently risen; as of now, guanaco hunting is allowed in Tierra Del Fuego, where they are no longer considered endangered.
If you ever find yourself in Patagonia, these charismatic animals are well worth a visit. Stop by in the southern summer, when the chulengos have just been born, and you might even be lucky enough to spot one of these long-legged, big-eyed cuties.
